The Prince Motor Company ( Japanese: ) was an automobile marque from Japan which eventually merged into

Nissan is a Japanese multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the ''Nissan'' and ''Infiniti'' brands, and formerly the ''Datsun'' brand, with in-house ...

in 1966. It began as the

Tachikawa Aircraft Company was an aircraft manufacturer in the Empire of Japan, specializing primarily in aircraft for the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force. It was based at Tachikawa, Tokyo, Tachikawa, in Tokyo, Tokyo Prefecture. History Tachikawa Aircraft In November 1 ...

, a manufacturer of various airplanes for the Japanese Army in World War II, e.g., the Ki-36, Ki-55 and Ki-74. Tachikawa Aircraft Company was dissolved after the war and the company took the name Fuji Precision Industries. It diversified into

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

s, producing an

electric car An electric car or electric vehicle (EV) is a passenger car, passenger automobile that is propelled by an electric motor, electric traction motor, using electrical energy as the primary source of propulsion. The term normally refers to a p ...

, the Tama, in 1946, named for the region the company originated in, Tama, using the Ohta series PC/PD platform. The company changed its name to Prince in 1952 to honor Akihito's formal investiture as Crown Prince of the nation. In 1954 they changed their name back to Fuji Precision Industries, and in 1961 changed the name back again to Prince Motor Company. In 1966, they became part of Nissan, while the Prince

organization An organization or organisation (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), see spelling differences) is an legal entity, entity—such as ...

remained in existence inside Nissan, as '' Nissan Prince Store'' in Japan until Nissan consolidated the Prince dealership network into "Nissan Blue Stage" in 1999.

Products

Prince had success building luxury automobiles. Among its most famous car lines were the

Skyline A skyline is the wikt:outline, outline or shape viewed near the horizon. It can be created by a city's overall structure, or by human intervention in a rural area, rural setting, or in nature that is formed where the sky meets buildings or the ...

and Gloria, both of which were absorbed into the Nissan range and continued after their 1966

merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

; however, Prince also built the 15-passenger Homy which was eventually shared with the Nissan Caravan and the Nissan Laurel, a four-door sedan platform mate with the Skyline, on which Prince had begun development before the merger but was introduced after the merger in 1968. Prince had also begun development on a small car to compete with the

Toyota Corolla The is a series of compact cars (formerly Subcompact car, subcompact) manufactured and marketed globally by the Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corporation. Introduced in 1966, the Corolla was the best-selling car worldwide by 1974 and has bee ...

and

Nissan Sunny The is an automobile built by the Japanese automaker Nissan from 1966 till 2004. In the early 1980s, the brand changed from Datsun to Nissan in line with other models by the company. Although production of the Sunny in Japan ended in 2004, the ...

, but after the merger, the car was introduced as the Nissan Cherry using

front wheel drive Front-wheel drive (FWD) is a form of internal combustion engine, engine and transmission (mechanics), transmission layout used in motor vehicles, in which the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel-drive vehicles feature ...

. The former

Nissan Gloria The Gloria () is a large luxury automobile, car made from 1959 by the Prince Motor Company, and later by Nissan Motors since its merger with the former — hence being originally marketed as Prince Gloria and later as Nissan Gloria. Initially b ...

and the

Nissan Skyline The is a brand of automobile originally produced by the Prince Motor Company starting in 1957, and then by Nissan after the two companies merged in 1967. After the merger, the Skyline and its larger counterpart, the Nissan Gloria, were sold in ...

are known in the US as the Infiniti M (2003 - 2004), the Infiniti G (2003 - 2006), and the Infiniti Q50 (2013+). Tama-denki-jidosya01

Model designation system

Up to 1961, Prince used a four-letter model code for its vehicles. The first letter stood for the engine code (A was 1500 cc, B was 1900 cc), the second letter stood for the chassis model, the third letter stood for the body type (S for sedan, T for cabover truck, V for van, P for pickup truck and so on) and the fourth letter was the order of production. A fifth letter was sometimes added, and this was the model version (S for standard, D for deluxe). A number was added to the end to delineate revisions of the same model. This number was a Roman numeral until 1956, after which it was an Arabic numeral. From 1962, Prince switched to an alpha-numeric code, similar to what Nissan would eventually use.

History

The Prince Motor Company had two origins.KATSURAGI, Yoji "The Beam of the Light of the Prince Motor Company" Grand Prix Book Publishing Co., Ltd., October 22, 2003 (Japanese) 『「プリンス」荻窪の思い出 II』荻友会編私家版 1997年11月16日 "Prince - Memories of Ogikubo" Private press by Tekiyukai (former Prince engineers)Association, Nov. 16, 1997 (Japanese) 1966 Prince R380 01

Tachikawa Aircraft Company

*December 1946 - The electric car division of the

became independent and was activated as the Fuchu Plant of the Kosoku Kikan Kogyo Co., Ltd.. *June 30, 1947 - The Fuchu Plant of the Kosoku Kikan Kogyo Co., Ltd. became the Tokyo Electric Car Company. (Official foundation date of the Prince Motor Company.) *February 1949 - Shojiro Ishibashi invested in the Tokyo Electric Car Company and became the chairman. *November 30, 1949 - The Tokyo Electric Car Company changed its name to Tama Electric Car Company. *November 1951 - The Tama Electric Car Company changed its name to Tama Motor Company. *November 1952 - The Tama Motor Company changed its name to Prince Motor Company. *April 10, 1954 - The Prince Motor Company merged with its engine supplier Fuji Precision Industries. The new company was named Fuji Precision Industries and the name Prince Motor Company disappeared in the meantime.

Nakajima Aircraft Company

*August 16, 1945 - The Nakajima Aircraft Company changed its name to Fuji Sangyo Co., Ltd.. *November 6, 1945 - The GHQ defined Fuji Sangyo as the

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 signifi ...

and decided to disband them. *May 1950 - Fuji Sangyo Co., Ltd. was disbanded. *July 1950 - Fuji Sangyo Co., Ltd. was divided into twelve companies. Of them, the Tokyo Plant (located in

Suginami, Tokyo is a Special wards of Tokyo, special ward in the Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis in Japan. The ward refers to itself as Suginami City in English. As of June 1, 2022, Suginami has an estimated population of 588,354 and a population density of 17,274 pe ...

) and the

Hamamatsu is a Cities of Japan, city located in western Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. In September 2023, the city had an estimated population of 780,128 in 340,591 households, making it the prefecture's largest city, with a population density of over the t ...

Plant became Fuji Precision Industries. *April 1951 - Shojiro Ishibashi became the chairman of Fuji Precision Industries. *April 10, 1954 - Fuji Precision Industries merged with its customer Prince Motor Company. The new company was named Fuji Precision Industries and the name Prince Motor Company disappeared in the meantime.

After Merger of Fuji/Prince Until Merger with Nissan

*February 1961 - Fuji Precision Industries changed its name to Prince Motor Company. (The name "Prince Motor Company" revived.) *1962 - Prince became the first Japanese car company to field a works team in a European rally, the Liège-Sofia-Liège. Neither of the two Skylines entered finished the rally, which had an 82 percent attrition rate. *May 1965 - Prince Motor Company announced the merger with Nissan Motor Company. *August 1966 - Merged into Nissan Motor Company.

List of vehicles

Prince Sedan The Prince Sedan was a Japanese compact executive car made from 1952 until 1957 by the Tama Motor Company (renamed the Prince Motor Company in November 1952), which was one of the successors of the Tachikawa Aircraft Company. It was replaced by th ...

(the first passenger car of Prince) * Prince Gloria (a luxury sedan & wagon) *

Prince Skyline A skyline is the outline or shape viewed near the horizon. It can be created by a city's overall structure, or by human intervention in a rural setting, or in nature that is formed where the sky meets buildings or the land. City skylines serv ...

(a performance coupe/sedan) **

Prince Skyway The Prince Skyway was a commercial delivery van and coupe utility produced by the Prince Motor Company from 1957 to 1967. It was based on the various Prince Skyline models of the period. In 1966, after the merger with Nissan is a Japanese ...

(a delivery van based on the Skyline) ** Prince Miler (a pickup truck based on the Skyline) ** Nissan Laurel (a compact luxury sedan/coupe based on the Skyline) * Prince Homy (a cargo van/minibus) ** Prince Homer (a pickup truck based on the Homy) * Prince R380 (a race car) * Nissan Prince Royal (a limousine made for the Imperial Household of Japan) * Nissan Cherry (a small front-wheel-drive coupe and sedan) * Prince Clipper (a cabover truck) ** Prince Light Coach (a large capacity passenger bus shared with the Clipper)

Concept vehicles

* 1956 Prince BNSJ: Displayed at the 1956

Tokyo Motor Show The , called (TMS) until 2023, is a biennial auto show held in October–November at the Tokyo Big Sight, Tokyo, Japan for cars, motorcycles and commercial vehicles. Hosted by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA), it is a recog ...

, the BNSJ was much larger compared to other Japanese cars of the era and was the first non-production prototype (concept) displayed at the Tokyo Motor Show. It was powered by the FG4A-20 engine, but was enlarged to 1.9L. The BNSJ never entered production. * 1956 Prince DPSK: The DPSK was developed as part of Japan's "National Car" program of 1955, similar to the German program that resulted in the Volkswagen Beetle. The proposal called for a 4-seater with an engine of 350 cc to 500 cc, a weight of around and a top speed of . The DPSK was powered by a rear-mounted 24 hp, 601cc two-cylinder boxer engine known as the FG2D. This engine suffered from vibration and noise problems and was later replaced with a 599cc, 36 hp four-cylinder boxer engine called the FG4C and the car became the CPSK. Prince persevered with this concept until 1959 when the National Car program was cancelled, likely due to Prince becoming a more upscale quality car manufacturer. * 1963 Prince 1900 Sprint: Based on the Skyline 1500, the Sprint was designed by Scaglione of Italy and powered by the 1.9L GB-4 engine from the Gloria. The Sprint was shown at the 1963 Tokyo Motor Show, but did not enter production.

References

External links

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Tama Electric Vehicle E4S-47
JSAE Official Website

JSAE Official Website {{Authority control Nissan Luxury motor vehicle manufacturers Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1952 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1966 Japanese companies established in 1952 1966 disestablishments in Japan 1966 mergers and acquisitions Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of Japan