Nissan Silvia Bluebird which was in production at the time the Silvia was introduced. In Japan, it was sold at Nissan Bluebird Store locations, and was marketed with the "Nissan" name instead of the more widely used "Datsun" brand name. The S10 was the first mass-produced Silvia built on the all-new S platform, intended as Nissan's compact, rear-wheel-drive, sporty car platform. Japanese versions were exclusive to Nissan Japanese dealerships called "Nissan Prince Store" along with the larger C110 Skyline. The S10 featured less "traditional" lines than similar offerings from rivals Toyota and Mazda sharing a common appearance with the larger Skyline. In
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