Six Degrees of Automotive Separation: Nissan and Chrysler

Hemmings

Okay, last week’s Hemmings Six Degrees of Automotive Separation Challenge kinda fell flat on its face. Maybe too open-ended? And in reviewing past challenges, we quickly realized that we haven’t yet made a Japanese car manufacturer one of the endpoints of a challenge.

So to make up for last week, a typical challenge. And to make up for the last five months, a challenge involving a Japanese company. Let’s pick Nissan. And let’s also pick its third-place counterpart in the U.S., Chrysler. I know you can connect these two in six degrees or less. But how obscure can you make the connections?

The rules, as always, are simple: A connection consists of one company owning another, merging with another or sharing another’s parts. Explain your connections, and if you need examples, check out our previous Hemmings Six Degrees of Automotive Separation Challenges.

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Posted at 12:49 pm in Chrysler, Daniel Stroh, Hemmings, Nissan, Six Degrees of Automotive Separation, StreetFirehp

Comments

lord_draino
Aug 31, 2009 at 8:56 am

Formatting suck ass, sorry.

lord_draino
Aug 31, 2009 at 8:55 am

Nissan Motor Company, Ltd. … formerly marketed vehicles under the “Datsun” brand name. (1°)

Datsun began as “DAT (2°) Motorcar Co.” in 1925.

In 1926 the Tokyo-based DAT Motors merged with the Osaka-based Jitsuyo Jidosha Co., Ltd. a.k.a. Jitsuyo Motors (established 1919, as a Kubota (3°) subsidiary) to become DAT Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

DAT had inherited Kubota’s chief designer who was an American, William R. Gorham. (4°)

Although it had always been Aikawa’s intention to use the latest cutting-edge auto making technology from America, it was Gorham that carried out the plan. All the machinery, vehicle designs and engine designs originally came out of the United States. Much of the tooling came from the Graham factory and Nissan had a Graham license under which trucks were made. The machinery was imported into Japan by Mitsubishi (5°) on behalf of Nissan…

Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. was formed in 1981 after tensions arose between Mitsubishi and its then U.S. import partner, the Chrysler Corporation (6°) over conflicts in the international subcompact market…

KILLED IT.

PureBusiness
Aug 28, 2009 at 3:15 pm

So we need to tell you something you don’t know too,right!?

Blackcompany
Aug 28, 2009 at 2:59 pm

If sharing of OEM part manufacturer counts I can do it in one…I know it wouldn’t be obscureor anything, but when I worked for Tokico, USA we made struts for Nissan and Chrysler.