The E10 was fitted with two varieties of inline four-cylinder Nissan A-series OHV engines: Although the car used a Nissan engine, the powertrain dated back to Prince's original concept – which was in essence a copy of the "transmission-in-sump" layout pioneered by the British Motor Corporation in the Mini.

The sporting Japanese domestic market Cherry X-1 model featured twin-carburetted A12T engine with dual-sidedraft Hitachi carburettors.

In the early 1970s, as the British auto-industry faltered, Datsun led the charge of Japanese auto-manufacturers rapidly gaining market share in the UK.

The question given greatest prominence was the final one which asked whether or not respondents would buy another car of the same model: 76 percent of Cherry owning respondents answered "yes", which was the top score for this question achieved by any model to date, and beat even the 66 percent "yes" score given by owners of the previous leader, the Volkswagen Beetle, at the time well known in the UK for its owners' brand loyalty.

[3] A fictionalised Datsun 100A (known in-universe as the Satsuma AMP) is featured in the Finnish video game My Summer Car set in a fictional town called "Peräjärvi".

It came at a time when small hatchbacks were enjoying rising sales across Europe, with the Ford Fiesta, Volkswagen Polo, Renault 5 and Fiat 127 being particularly popular, along with the General Motors product which was known in Britain as the Vauxhall Chevette and on the continent as the Opel Kadett City.

The Cherry name was still used in Europe on the model N12, an angular, three- or five-door hatchback design which was introduced in September 1982.

The new model was somewhat larger than earlier versions of the Cherry, with the new Micra taking its place in the supermini sector on its European launch in June 1983, leaving the Cherry to compete in Europe against the new-popular hatchback designs like the Ford Escort and Volkswagen Golf, while the Sunny gave buyers a traditional saloon and estate option.

[6] While being somewhat larger, Nissan lowered the weight of the car by the new E-series engines being lighter than the ones used in the previous model, and through the extensive use of high-strength low-alloy steel (HSLA) as well.

Sound levels dropped as a result of the improved aerodynamics, advancements in door seal technology, and the use of a sandwiched firewall.

This was sold where tax regulations suited smaller engines, and was usually only offered with the lowest (DX) trim and a four-speed manual transmission.

In 1985 Belgian buyers also received a special edition combining the Japanese and the European names called the "Cherry Pulsar."

This was a three-door Cherry DX 1.3 or 1.7 Diesel fitted with some extra equipment and painted light blue or silver metallic.

The Arna was never sold in Japan but a domestic version of the N12 Nissan Pulsar, labelled the Nissan Pulsar Milano X1, made use of the Alfa Romeo connection in its publicity and was fitted with the same black and green interior as the Arna Ti or Cherry Europe GTi.

In America only the notchback coupé ("Pulsar NX") was offered for most of the N12's run although the three- and five-doors were sold for model year 1983 only.