, or Kurogane,
was one of the first Japanese automakers. It built vehicles from about 1926 until 1962 when a subsidiary of
Nissan
, trade name, trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells ...
, called Nissan Machinery (Nissan Koki Co., Ltd.
日産工機), assumed operations as the company had become a member of the
Nissan Group
, or formerly Nissan zaibatsu, was one of Japan's most powerful business groupings.
Founded in 1928 by Yoshisuke Aikawa, the group was originally a holding company created as an offshoot of ''Kuhara Mining Co.''(became Nippon Mining & Metals C ...
''
keiretsu
A is a set of companies with interlocking business relationships and shareholdings. In the legal sense, it is a type of informal business group that are loosely organized alliances within the social world of Japan's business community. The ''ke ...
''. The word is an old term for
iron
Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...
, and one of the ''
kanji
are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...
'' used in Mr. Makita's first name. Remnants of the company were called Nissan Machinery (
Nissan Koki) until 1985, and operated as a separate entity within Nissan Techno (
日産テクノ) until 2006, building and developing all of Nissan's current engines.
History
![1962 Kurogane Baby](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/1962_Kurogane_Baby.jpg)
The company can be traced back to the small company founded by Tetsuji Makita (蒔田鉄司) in 1917, which was a parts supplier for bicycles and motorcycles.
Mr. Makita left the company in 1918 to work for Toyogawa Hayataya (豊川順彌) and the Hakuyosha Ironworks Company (白楊社), manufacturer of the
Otomo Otomo or Ōtomo may refer to:
People
* Ōtomo Chikaie (1561–1641), daimyō
* Ōtomo Chikasada (died 1570), samurai
* Ōtomo no Kuronushi (9th century), poet
* Ōtomo no Otomaro (731–809), samurai
* Ōtomo no Sakanoue no Iratsume (c. 700–750 ...
car, having manufactured 300 by 1927. The company actively entered in the automobile market in the 1920s when Mr. Makita returned in 1926, and then merged with the Japan Automobile (Nihon Jidōsha), a subsidiary of the
Okura (大倉財閥) ''
zaibatsu
is a Japanese language, Japanese term referring to industrial and financial vertical integration, vertically integrated business conglomerate (company), conglomerates in the Empire of Japan, whose influence and size allowed control over signi ...
'', which changed its name to Japan Internal Combustion Engine Company Ltd. (
日本内燃機株式会社) in 1932.
It then manufactured cars, motorcycles and three-wheeled trucks, or ''sanrin'' (三輪) under the Kurogane brand for the
Imperial Japanese Army
The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...
in
Ōmori, Ōta, Tokyo. When the ''zaibatsu'' were dismantled after the war, Kurogane was realigned from remnants of the
Nissan Group
, or formerly Nissan zaibatsu, was one of Japan's most powerful business groupings.
Founded in 1928 by Yoshisuke Aikawa, the group was originally a holding company created as an offshoot of ''Kuhara Mining Co.''(became Nippon Mining & Metals C ...
''zaibatsu''. Kurogane, like many other Japanese manufacturers prospered as a supplier for the United States Army during the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
, but when the conflict ended in 1953,
Japan entered into a recession and smaller companies suffered as a result. It assumed operations of another company called
Ohta Automobiles in 1957. In 1959, it became part of the
Tokyu Corporation
The is a Japanese multinational ''keiretsu'' ( conglomerate) holding company headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo. Its main operation is , a wholly owned subsidiary operating railways in the Greater Tokyo Area.
History
The oldest predecessor ...
as a manufacturer of cars, trucks and farm equipment until Nissan assumed operations.
Former names and merged smaller companies include Japan Internal Combustion Engine Co., Ltd., Japan Internal Combustion Engine Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Japan Automobile Industry Co., Ltd. (
日本自動車), Japan Minicar Co., Ltd. (
日本軽自動車) and Tokyu Kurogane Industrial Co., Ltd.
![Datsun Cablight Truck 001](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Datsun_Cablight_Truck_001.JPG)
When Kurogane began manufacturing vehicles, they were considered in Japan one of the surviving four original manufacturers, the other three being
Datsun
Datsun (, ) was an automobile brand owned by Nissan. Datsun's original production run began in 1931. From 1958 to 1986, only vehicles exported by Nissan were identified as Datsun. Nissan phased out the Datsun brand in March 1986, but relaunche ...
,
Isuzu, and
Mazda
, commonly referred to as simply Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima, Japan.
In 2015, Mazda produced 1.5 million vehicles for global sales, the majority of which (nearly one m ...
. For the brief time Kurogane produced vehicles, their market focus was on commercial vehicles for logistics and small business manufacturing transport. Kurogane found the commercial market crowded, competing with the
Prince Homer
The Prince Homer was a small commercial vehicle manufactured by the now integrated Prince Motor Company. It was available as a van, called the Homy, a double cab, or regular cab truck. The first model was known as the T64, and was sold as the P ...
,
Nissan Diesel
UD Trucks Corporation (UDトラックス株式会社, ''UD Torakkusu Kabushikigaisha'') is a Japanese company whose principal business is the manufacturing and sales of diesel trucks, buses, bus chassis and special-purpose vehicles. Its headquarte ...
,
Isuzu Elf
The is a medium duty truck produced by Isuzu since 1959. Outside Japan it is known as N series and Q Series. The range was originally mainly available in Japan and other Asian countries. Australia was another important market for the Elf and N ...
,
Mitsubishi Fuso Canter
The is a line of light-duty commercial vehicles manufactured by Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation, part of Daimler Truck, subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz Group. The Canter is manufactured since 1963, now in its eighth generation. The Can ...
,
Toyota Dyna
The Toyota Dyna is a light to medium-duty cab over truck for commercial use. In the Japanese market, the Dyna is sold alongside its twin called the Toyoace. The Toyoace was a renaming of the Toyopet SKB Truck as a result of a 1956 public competi ...
and the
Hino TH-series
In May 1950 the heavy-duty Hino TH10 truck was introduced, equipped with the all-new 7-liter DS10 diesel engine. An eight-tonner, this was considerably larger than existing Japanese trucks which had rarely been built for more than payload. The mo ...
. In 1963 when Nissan assumed operations, the Kurogane Mighty was re-branded with minor body changes as the
Datsun Cablight (Japanese article). Kurogane management structure and assets were now under Nissan corporate structure, much the same as the arrangement when Nissan merged with
Prince Motor Company
The Prince Motor Company (Japanese: ) was an automobile marque from Japan which eventually merged into Nissan in 1966. It began as the Tachikawa Aircraft Company, a manufacturer of various airplanes for the Japanese Army in World War II, e.g. ...
, while the Kurogane name was not used. In 1964, Kurogane was no longer considered part of the Tokyu Corporation. The company became known as Nissan Machinery in 1970, with their efforts used for engine development.
Vehicles manufactured
*
Kurogane Type 95
The Type 95 was a Japanese scout car built by , and was used during the war with China and World War II in the East. Between 1936 and 1944 approximately 4,700 were built. It was the only completely Japanese designed reconnaissance car ever u ...
, the world's first four-wheel drive vehicle to be placed into mass production in 1936
*Kurogane Sanrin,
three-wheeler
A three-wheeler is a vehicle with three wheels. Some are motorized tricycles, which may be legally classed as motorcycles, while others are tricycles without a motor, some of which are human-powered vehicles and animal-powered vehicles.
Overv ...
truck based on the
Harley-Davidson Servi-Car
The Harley-Davidson Servi-Car was a three-wheeled utility motorcycle manufactured by Harley-Davidson from 1932 to 1973.
Concept and uses
The Servi-Car was designed during the Great Depression when Harley-Davidson was desperate to expand its produc ...
developed by the
Rikuo Motorcycle
was one of the first motorcycle manufacturing companies in Japan. In the early 1930s Rikuo operated under the license and name of Harley-Davidson, using their tooling, and later under the name Rikuo until 1958. Harley-Davidson themselves did no ...
brandname
*Kurogane Mighty, (type NA/NB/NC 1957–1962) a four-wheel, mid-sized, cabover truck/cargo van, it was taken over by Nissan and sold as the "Cablight".
*
Kurogane Baby
The Kurogane Baby was a ''keitora'' and microvan built by the Japanese Kurogane company from April 1959 until January 1961, sold only in Japan. It was developed by a company of which Kurogane had assumed operations, called Ohta Jidosha, but was in ...
, (April 1959 - January 1961) a ''
keitora
A kei truck, kei-class truck, or Japanese mini truck is a mini truck, a tiny but practical pickup truck available in rear-wheel drive or four-wheel drive versions, built to satisfy the Japanese '' keijidōsha'' (軽自動車, "light vehicle") st ...
'' (軽トラ) /
microvan
A microvan is a van or minivan which is within the Japanese kei car classification or similar, and is smaller than a mini MPV. In China, these vehicles are nicknamed ''mian bao che'' ("bread-loaf vehicle") because of their shape. cabover vehicle in cargo van and pickup truck bodystyles
*Ohta KE/VM, a legacy product taken over from Ohta and sold under that name from 1957 until 1959 with the 48-PS E13 engine.
*Kurogane Nova 1500 (KN), a rebranded
Ohta
Ohta, Ōta, or Ota may refer to the following:
People
* Ota (wife of Arnulf of Carinthia), Queen of the East Franks 888-899, Empress of the Holy Roman Empire 896-899
* Ota (cartoonist), Brazilian cartoonist
* Atsuya Ota, Japanese basketball p ...
series KE truck and VM series delivery van (1959–1962): The Nova received a 1.5-L (1488-cc "E15") engine with and managed a payload.
Three-wheeled trucks
Kurogane began building three-wheeled trucks in 1936. Based on the
Harley-Davidson Servi-Car
The Harley-Davidson Servi-Car was a three-wheeled utility motorcycle manufactured by Harley-Davidson from 1932 to 1973.
Concept and uses
The Servi-Car was designed during the Great Depression when Harley-Davidson was desperate to expand its produc ...
, they also used V-twin engines of various displacements to suit the weight categories. The biggest V-twin built by Kurogane was the 1360-cc VYA engine from the mid-1950s.
In 1958, a water-cooled, four-cylinder engine was introduced for the KS truck; this was the 1.3-L E-13 engine. As Mazda switched to water-cooled, inline-fours for their entire three-wheeled truck lineup, Kurogane soon followed suit and added the 1046-cc E-10 in 1959 and then the 1.5-L E-15 engine, which was also used in their four-wheeled vehicles.
[ Kurogane's heaviest three-wheelers were models like the KF and the later KY.]Ozeki Ozeki or Ōzeki may refer to:
* Ōzeki, a rank in ''Makuuchi'', the top division of professional sumo
** List of ōzeki
* Ōzeki station (disambiguation), the name of two railway stations in Japan
* Ōzeki Masutoshi (1849–1905), 16th daimyō o ...
, p. 101
Engines developed as Nissan Machinery
* Nissan RB engine inline 6
*Nissan TB engine
The Nissan TB straight-six petrol engine was released in 1987 as the TB42.
Bore and stroke were . Cubic capacity was displacement). The engine was released with a two-barrel carburettor and a point type distributor. It was used in the Nissan Pat ...
inline 6
*Nissan VG engine
The VG engine family consists of V6 engines designed and produced by Nissan for several vehicles in the Nissan lineup. The VG series was introduced in 1983, becoming Nissan's and Japan's first mass-produced V6 engine. VG engines displace between 2 ...
V6 replaced by Nissan VQ engine
The VQ is a family of V6 24V automobile engines developed by Nissan with displacements varying from 2.0 L to 4.0 L. It is an aluminum block DOHC 4-valve (per cylinder) design with aluminum heads. It is fitted with Nissan's EGI/ECCS s ...
V6
**Nissan VR engine
The VR is a series of twin-turbo DOHC V6 automobile engines from Nissan with displacements varying from . An evolution of the widely successful VQ series, it also draws on developments from the VRH, JGTC, and Nissan R390 GT1 Le Mans racing ...
*Nissan Z engine
The Nissan Z engine is a series of automobile and light truck four-cylinder engines that was engineered by Nissan Machinery, manufactured by the Nissan Motor Company from 1979 through August 1989. All Z engines had 4 cylinders, a total of 8 valves ...
inline 4 replaced by Nissan NA engine inline 4
**Nissan CA engine
The CA engine is a series of Inline-4 piston engines from Nissan. It is designed for a wide variety of smaller Nissan vehicles to replace the Z engine and some smaller, four-cylinder L series engines. The "CA" stands for Clean Air, due to the in ...
inline 4 replaced Nissan Z engine, was replaced by Nissan SR engine
The SR engine is a series of , or straight-four, four-stroke gasoline engines manufactured by Nissan. It has an aluminum head and cast-iron block with steel sleeves and has a DOHC 4-valve design, with variable valve timing on select models.
T ...
inline 4
**Nissan KA engine
The KA engines were a series of four-stroke inline-four gasoline piston engines manufactured by Nissan, which were offered in 2.0 and 2.4 L. The engines blocks were made of cast-iron, while the cylinder heads were made of aluminum.
Despite their ...
inline 4 replaced Nissan Z engine, was replaced by Nissan QR engine
The QR family of inline-four piston engines by Nissan were introduced in 2000 and range from in displacement. These motors are aluminum, dual overhead camshaft (DOHC), four-valve designs with variable valve timing and optional direct injection. ...
inline 4
* Nissan engines (Japanese)
See also
*Autech
is a Nissan Motorsports & Customizing division focused on tuning and converting Nissan cars. Autech was a subsidiary company of Nissan from its establishment in 1986 to 2022, when it was merged with Nismo.
History
Autech was founded in 1986 ...
*Nismo
, abbreviated as Nismo, is a division of Nissan Motorsports & Customizing focused in motorsport and performance-oriented car models for Nissan. Nismo was initially a company, , formed in 1984 as a result of a merger of two motorsport departmen ...
Sources
This article is being translated from the corresponding article at Japanese Wikipedia, and the article will continue to grow, with citations, as the translation progresses.
{{Japanese Automobile Industry
Nissan
Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of Japan
Car manufacturers of Japan
Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1917
Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1962