Automotive industry in the United Kingdom to Britain from 1975, later launching a hatchback model (the Polonez) alongside it. However, by 1998, Skoda was the only Eastern European carmaker still importing cars to Britain, now competing with budget-priced Far Eastern cars from the likes of Daewoo, Kia, Hyundai and Proton. Nissan had axed the Datsun brand by 1984 and used its own name on all cars, and in 1986 opened a factory in Britain near Sunderland, which produced the mid-range Bluebird hatchbacks and saloons, although it was the Japanese-built Micra which was the company's best-selling car in Britain during the 1980s. The decade also saw the
Nissan Pulsar last generation of Sunny to be sold in the United Kingdom, where it was replaced late in 1995 by the Almera. One anomaly from this period resulted from Nissan taking control of its British import and distribution business from Automotive Financial Group (AFG); the acrimonious split between Nissan and Octav Botnar resulted in AFG sourcing the vehicle badged as the Pulsar and selling it concurrently in the UK alongside the "official" version (badged as the Sunny) by the newly established Nissan Motor GB. This version continued to be offered in CKD kit form in New Zealand as the Sentra (unrelated