Austin's Eastern foray.Byline: IAN JOHNSON Ian Johnson may refer to:
THE Nissan factory in Sunderland may be the pride of the accord between a Japanese car maker and the British workforce, but in the 1950s a British car was rolling off the production line in Japan. In those days, Japan was getting back on its feet after the Second World War and its car industry was struggling. The postwar post·war adj. Belonging to the period after a war: postwar resettlement; a postwar house. postwar Adjective occurring or existing after a war Adj. 1. restrictions on the manufacture of cars were only completely lifted in 1949. There had been just four years of interruption INTERRUPTION. The effect of some act or circumstance which stops the course of a prescription or act of limitation's. 2. Interruption of the use of a thing is natural or civil. , but its effects were serious. Rather than import cars, Japan decided to foster the domestic auto industry, encouraging technical tieups with foreign manufacturers. So in 1952, Nissan Motor signed an agreement for technical co-operation with Austin and in 1953, assembly of the A40 Somerset Saloon began. Japan chose Austin because it was a big British name with a lot of 'street cred' because no other company exported more cars to the US.. It was decided that 2,000 A40s would be imported and assembled and the components would be increasingly sourced from within Japan. Austin would provide technical support for the assembly and the shift toward domestic production and a some Austin employees went to Japan to launch the venture. But the dear old A40 was coming to the end of its shelf life with a model change to the A50, so in 1954, Nissan too shifted to assembly of the new model. There was amazing a·maze v. a·mazed, a·maz·ing, a·maz·es v.tr. 1. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise. 2. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex. v.intr. progress made over local components and the 100% "Made in Japan" point was reached in August 1956. There is no doubt that the old Austins were the daddies of the modern Nissan. The know-how gained from them played a part in the development of Nissan's 1960 Cedric model and the cars of later years. In 1950, Nissan only produced 865 cars, but ten years after, when the A50 was been phased out, they produced nearly 66,000. In 1953, Austin staff going to Japan for four-week stints found that the entire trip took six weeks, with a week's travel each way via BOAC BOAC British Overseas Airways Corporation (now British Airways) BOAC Billed Office Address Code BOAC Board of Aviation Commissioners (Indiana) BOAC Blazing Outdoor Adventurers & Co Pte Ltd and Pan-Am Stratocruisers. Some travelled half way round the world one way, and round the other half on the way back. CAPTION(S): MADE IN JAPAN - One of the Japanese A40 Somersets |
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