The first Datsun model - a Type II from 1932

The brand went on display to great fanfare at the Los Angeles motor show of 1958.

But the models - a sedan called Bluebird and a sportscar called the Fairlady - did not at first appeal to US consumers and business was initially slow to get off the ground.

It is said that Yutaka Katayama personally trudged round the Japanese neighbourhoods in Southern California, knocking on doors to try to drum up sales.

But pick-up it did. In 1968, the Datsun 510 sedan was introduced - the first Nissan car styled for the American market.

Breaking into Europe

And by 1971, annual sales in the US had passed the quarter of a million mark.

Key milestones

1914 Dat vehicles produced 1934 Nissan Motor Company formed 1958 - exports to United States 1962 - exports to Europe Dec 1985 - car plant completed at Sunderland 1999 - �3.3bn deal with Renault Sep 1999 - millionth Micra produced Jan 2001 - EC approves �40m grant 25 Jan - Sunderland lands contract

Exports of Nissan cars to Europe came in 1962, when more than 700 Bluebirds were exported to Finland.

Sales to the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland swiftly followed, then shortly afterwards to the UK and France.

In 1983, the worldwide marketing of vehicles using the Nissan name began.

Then in March 1984, the UK government announced that Nissan was to build a new car plant at Sunderland in the northeast of England.

Sunderland

Work began on the site and by December 1985 the factory was completed, within schedule.

The first Nissan Bluebird rolled off the Sunderland production line two years later and by the spring of 1987, 29,000 Bluebirds were being produced a year.

In May 1990 came a new Nissan baby - the Primera - which replaced the Bluebird and the cars were exported to Eastern Europe and the Far East.

Nissan's 1959 Bluebird 310

Production of the Nissan Micra began in August 1992. By now the company had a workforce of more than 4,000.

Two years later, nearly 183,000 Primeras and Micras were being exported to 36 world markets.

Soon after the one millionth vehicle rolled off the production line. And the plant was named as the most productive in Europe, an accolade that it won several years running.

'Le Costcutter'

The next key milestone was the �3.3bn deal, in March 1999, between Renault and Nissan. The French company bought a 36% stake in the company.

Renault executive Carlos Ghosn - and now president of Nissan Motor Company - was a tough operator nicknamed "le Costcutter".

By April 2000, the company employed more than 5,000 workers at its Sunderland factory.

Nissan models

Type 15 - 1937 1200 Sedan - 1960 SPL 210 - 1960 Bluebird - 1962 Patrol - 1962 2000 Roadster - 1967 Primera - 1990 Micra - 1992

But by the summer of that year came the first warnings that the plant could be in difficulty because of the strength of sterling.

There was talk of moving production of the new Micra to the Renault plant in Flins, north of Paris, and the future of car-making at Sunderland hung in the balance.

The UK government, keen to keep the production of the new Micra in Britain, then stepped in, offering a �40m sweetener to help bail out Nissan.

Earlier this month, the grant was eventually approved by the European Commission, thus helping Sunderland land the contract.