Editing Datsun (section)

===Rebranding===
[[File:Nissan-720.jpg|thumb|right|[[Datsun 720]]]]

In Japan, there appears to have been what probably constituted a long-held 'official' company [[bias]] against use of the name "Datsun".<ref>''Business Week'', 7 April 1973, interview with Katsuji Kawamata, president of Nissan Motor Company Ltd.</ref> At the time, Kawamata was a veteran of Nissan, in the last year of his presidency, a powerful figure whose experience in the firm exceeded two decades. His rise to its leadership position occurred in 1957 in part because of his handling of the critical Nissan workers' strike that began May 25, 1953, and ran for 100 days. During his tenure as president, Kawamata stated that he "regretted that his company did not imprint its corporate name on cars, the way [[Toyota]] does. 'Looking back, we wish we had started using Nissan on all of our cars,' he says. 'But Datsun was a pet name for the cars when we started [[export]]ing.'"<ref>Business Week, 7 April 1973, pg. 69.</ref>

Ultimately, the decision was made to stop using the brand name ''Datsun'' worldwide, in order to strengthen the company name ''Nissan''.

"The decision to change the name Datsun to Nissan in the U.S. was announced in the autumn (September/October) of 1981. The rationale was that the name change would help the pursuit of a [[global strategy]]. A single name worldwide would increase the possibility that advertising campaigns, brochures, and promotional materials could be used across countries and simplify product design and manufacturing. Further, potential buyers would be exposed to the name and product when traveling to other countries. Industry observers, however, speculated that the most important motivation was that a name change would help Nissan market stocks and bonds in the U.S. They also presumed substantial [[Human ego|ego]] involvement, since the [[Consumer confusion|absence]] of the Nissan name in the U.S. surely rankled Nissan executives who had seen [[Toyota]] and [[Honda]] become household words."<ref>Aaker, David A. ''Managing Brand Equity : Capitalizing on the Value of a Brand Name'', New York: The Free Press, 1991 {{ISBN|0-02-900101-3}} Chapter 3, Pg. 57</ref>

Ultimately, the name change campaign lasted for a three-year period from 1982 to 1984 – Datsun badged vehicles had been progressively fitted with small "Nissan" and "Datsun by Nissan" badges from the late 1970s onward until the Nissan name was given prominence in 1983 – although in some export markets, vehicles continued to wear both the Datsun and Nissan badges until 1986. In the United Kingdom for example, the Nissan name initially was used as a prefix to the model name, with Datsun still being used as the manufacturer's name (e.g. Datsun-Nissan [[Nissan March|Micra]]) from 1982 until 1984. In the United States, the Nissan name was used for some new vehicles for 1982 such as the [[Nissan Stanza]] and the [[Nissan Sentra]] while the Datsun name was used on existing vehicles through 1983 including – confusingly enough – the [[Nissan Maxima|Datsun Maxima]], which like the Stanza and Sentra was also a new model for 1982, albeit as a renamed [[Datsun 810]]. The Maxima and [[Nissan Z-car|Z]] continue in production in North America as of 2021, as Nissan's last direct link to its Datsun years.

The name change had cost Nissan a figure in the region of US$500 million. Operational costs included the changing of signs at 1,100 Datsun dealerships, and amounted to US$30 million. Another US$200 million were spent during the 1982 to 1986 advertising campaigns, where the ''"Datsun, We Are Driven!"'' campaign (which was adopted in late 1977 in the wake of the [[1973 oil crisis]] and subsequent [[1979 energy crisis]]) yielded to ''"The Name is Nissan"'' campaign (the latter campaign was used for some years beyond 1985). Another US$50 million was spent on Datsun advertisements that were paid for but stopped or never used.<ref>[http://www.zcca.org/pages/ZCarsZhistoryDatsuntoNissan.htm What's in a name?] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060508085037/http://www.zcca.org/pages/ZCarsZhistoryDatsuntoNissan.htm |date=2006-05-08 }} – ZCCA</ref> Five years after the [[Brand equity|name change program]] was over, ''Datsun'' still remained more familiar than ''Nissan''.<ref>Aaker, pg 56.</ref>