Nissan Maxima Nissan Maxima The Nissan Maxima is a mid-size car manufactured by Nissan and sold primarily in North America, the Middle East, and China. Making its sales debut in 1981 for the 1982 model year as the Datsun Maxima, it replaced the earlier Datsun 810. The name "Maxima" dates back to 1980 for the 1981 model year when the upscale 810 sold as the "810 Maxima" in North America. Like the 810, early versions of the Maxima had their origins in the Datsun/Nissan Bluebird. The Datsun brand was phased out in favor of Nissan in 1984 for the 1985 model year,
Automotive Energy Supply Corporation a further ¥100 billion ($1.1 billion) in AESC, establishing an additional factory to increase capacity for around 200,000 vehicles per year. Trial production at Zama began mid 2009. In 2010 the Nissan Leaf electric vehicle began production, using batteries from AESC. In 2014 AESC was the second largest electric vehicle battery manufacturer worldwide (after Panasonic), with 21% of the market. In late 2014 Reuters reported conflict within the Nissan / Renault carmaker alliance over sourcing of battery packs for its Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK and Nissan Smyrna assembly plant (USA) car battery plants due to lack of price competitiveness with