By 1959, Japan’s Nissan had begun expanding its export market for its export-only brand, Datsun. It established itself first in the US, and, in 1962, began its first foray into New Zealand. Initially, about 200 cars were shipped here from Japan to test the market.
These cars were in direct competition with the Mark 1 Cortina, Vauxhall Viva, and similar. Apparently, those first test cars were sold for about half the price of the Ford product. Adverts from the time show the Cortina being sold for £923, which would put those first Datsuns on the market here for less than £500, or $1K in today’s money.
TEST RESULTS
These early cars were well received and a further batch was ‘tested’ here a while later.
In 1963, Nissan established an office in New Zealand and assembly began, making this car the first Japanese production
