[1] A 1930 ministerial ordinance by the Japanese government declared that drivers' licenses would not be required for cars with engines up to 500 cc displacement, and that the purchase of these vehicles would be taxed at a lower rate.

The 1934 Datsun Type 13 went into production in April 1934 with its chassis built in the Osaka Plant of the Automotive Division of Tobata Casting, which merged with Nihon Sangyo Co. (Nissan) after selling its factory.

Sedans built in Japan during the 1950s were mostly intended to serve as taxis, and introduced mass production techniques, as opposed to earlier vehicles made using a slower hand-made process.

The engine is a water-cooled inline-four cylinder with two crankshaft bearings, side intake and exhaust valves, a displacement of 860 cc and with 25 PS (18 kW) at 4000 rpm.

[13] The 114 used the 210's body except for the grille and exterior trim, combined with the old 25 PS "D10" engine to stay beneath the 910 cc limit imposed by the government on small taxis.

[13] The 114 was succeeded by the Datsun 115, a corresponding lower specification version of the updated 211, which was similar to the 114/210 with the exception of a bigger rear window and slightly redesigned front turn signals.

A trim model called the "Fancy Deluxe" (model code DP311-L) was marketed for the female driver; it featured a pale yellow exterior, pale yellow/grey interior, high heel shoe holder under the dash, a vanity mirror on the back of the driver's side sun visor, a turn signal relay that played music, curtains, automatic clutch, and bigger mirrors.

The original model had small, half-moon shaped lights which garnered the car the nickname "persimmon seed"; these were replaced by larger, more squared off units with a separate, amber turn signal section.

In May 1965 the base engine was enlarged to a downtuned version of the 1.3 L unit already used in the 411-series SS, now with a single (twin-barrel) carb and developing 67 PS (49 kW) at 5,200 rpm.

A few automatic and twin carburettor SSS versions were imported built-up from Japan, primarily for buyers who had access to funds overseas and could utilise the country's 'no remittance' new car purchase scheme to avoid lengthy waiting lists.

The trim designation "SS" was changed to "SSS" as General Motors was already using the term for performance branded Chevrolet products called the Super Sport starting in 1961.

New equipment such as a remote trunk opener, interval wipers, a central handbrake (rather than the earlier "umbrella style" one), and new interior materials accompanied the external changes, while the engines were now capable of meeting the most recent emissions regulations, marketed as Nissan NAPS.

In Australia, Datsun released the locally produced 180B in October 1972[36] as a four-door sedan in Deluxe and GL trims, and a two-door SSS coupe.

[38] In early 1974, wrap-around front indicators, new tail-lights and cabin trim changes heralded a range-wide facelift, while a fully imported (not locally manufactured) luxury GX sedan arrived in November 1974.

[37] The GX model could only be differentiated on the exterior by its grille, wipers and badges, although the interior gained luxuries such as cloth inserts for the vinyl upholstery and a three-way adjustable driving seat (fore/aft, recline, thigh support).

The federal/Canadian version took leaded fuel and depended on an EGR system for pollution control, while the California cars have a catalytic converter and require unleaded petrol, using technology labeled in Japan as Nissan NAPS.

[41][42] The 1974s also received larger bumpers mounted on hydraulic cylinders to meet new safety standards, increasing weight by about 215 lb (98 kg) and making the car 2.2 in (56 mm) longer.

[47] For all three of these performance measurements, it was marginally better than the Ford Cortina 1600 GL which continued to dominate this sector in the UK, but both cars were beaten for speed and acceleration (though not for fuel economy) by the relatively crude Morris Marina 1.8HL.

It may have been somewhat conservatively styled, but the effort Nissan had put into the engineering of the car made it reliable and tough, qualities most Australians rated higher than a more advanced design.

Seen as a giant step backwards, the reason for the change was certainly not a cost-cutting measure, but simply the need for Nissan to reach an 85% local content quota that the then Federal Government demanded of Australian car manufacturers.

Significantly the SX was a unique model to Australia, the added input from Nissan's Australian design engineers signified a step away from just assembling cars.

Nissan also added its first luxury ZX version with this generation – features included velour upholstery, 'luxury' cut-pile carpet sourced locally and tinted glass.

The alloy head castings all had an unused location for a second spark plug per cylinder, as twin-plug, fuel-injected versions of the same engines were used in certain markets (US, Japan, Scandinavia) with stricter emission laws.

At the time of introduction, there was also the limited production SSS-R model, with lowered weight and a special high-power engine as well as oversized extra headlamps and racing livery.

The two models were visually distinct: the four-door sedan had curves where its U12 predecessor had edges, while the hardtop, called the Nissan Bluebird ARX, had more traditional styling.

The Bluebird SSS was set apart from the North American Altima in that not only having the SR20DET and AWD Attesa as an option, it also had other details such as power folding retracting mirrors (some heated) and a rear wiper if equipped with a spoiler.

Compared to the LX, the Ti had climate control, a sunroof, woodgrain styling, and gear selector display on the instrument cluster (automatic models only).

The U13 Bluebird was introduced in New Zealand in early 1993, and was produced at Nissan's assembly plant in South Auckland from CKD packs imported from Japan until 1997, when it was replaced by the Primera.

At launch, some local motoring writers criticised Nissan NZ's decision to fit luxury equipment items instead of airbags in top versions but the company insisted there was not yet sufficient retail or fleet buyer demand.

This featured a U13 central section but heavily revised front and rear ends with tail lamps and trunk lid design derived from the L30 Altima.