Automotive Financial Group Automotive Financial Group Automotive Financial Group (normally styled as AFG) was a British company specialising in automotive retailing, and the sale of associated products and services. The company was founded by the Austro Hungarian businessman Octav Botnar, as an extension of his successful Nissan import and distribution company "Nissan UK". Botnar had successfully built up a successful business since 1970, importing and marketing cars of the Datsun/Nissan within Britain, eventually attaining a 6% overall market share by 1980, to the point where the United Kingdom was the only export market where Nissan outsold its arch rival Toyota. Botnar had achieved
Nissan automotive industry became more prolific, vehicles that were dedicated to particular stores were badge engineered, given different names, and shared within the existing networks thereby selling the same platforms at different locations. The networks allowed Nissan to better compete with the network established earlier by Toyota at Japanese locations. Starting in 1960, another sales distribution channel was established that sold diesel products for commercial use, called Nissan Diesel until the diesel division was sold in 2007 to Volvo AB. To encourage retail sales, Nissan passenger vehicles that were installed with diesel engines, like the Cedric, were available at Nissan Diesel