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 Company; currently part of JXTG Holdings), which Aikawa had taken over as president of from his brother-in-law, Fusanosuke Kuhara.

Although the Nissan name was primarily known for its car manufacturing outside Japan, Nissan Motor was a comparatively small side business compared to its core real estate business until the real estate crash of the early 1990s (see Japanese asset price bubble).

Like the similar subprime crisis, the crash dealt a devastating blow to the Nissan Group by leaving it with several hundred billions of dollars of debt.

Nissan Motor was given more independence as French automotive manufacturer Renault bought a 38.8% stake in the company for $5.4 billion in 1999 and appointed Carlos Ghosn as CEO of the new Renault–Nissan Alliance.

Nissan Motor's successful turnaround was attributed to CEO Ghosn's ability to detach it from its keiretsu connections and eliminate 23,000 jobs from the Japanese workforce.