Aichi Kokuki
Aichi Kokuki KK was a Japanese aerospace manufacturer which produced several designs for the Imperial Japanese Navy. After the war, the company was reorganized as Aichi Machine Industry Co., Ltd where they made small kei cars until 1966 when they were integrated into Nissan and developed the Nissan Sunny and Nissan Vanette.
History
Aichi Watch and Electric Manufacturing
The company was established in 1898 in Nagoya as Aichi Tokei Denki Seizo Kabushiki Kaisha. Aircraft production started in 1920, and the company relied initially on technical assistance from Heinkel, which influenced some of their designs. Later, with the prodding and support of the Imperial Japanese Navy, the company started making seaplanes using technology imported from Short Brothers in the UK.During the inter-war period, Aichi was the beneficiary of technology transferred from Heinkel of Germany. At the time, a team from the League of Nations occasionally visited German aircraft manufacturers to monitor the ban on military aircraft research and production. A Japanese military attache who was a member of the monitoring team, let Heinkel know, confidentially and in advance, of the planned visits. Heinkel thus succeeded in continuing its design on the aircraft ordered by Aichi Aircraft without being spotted.
In 1943 the aircraft division was spun off as Aichi Kokuki Kabushiki Kaisha.
Aichi Machine Industry
After the war, the company was reorganized, manufacturing kei cars under the Cony brand name in Japan. Its current descendant, Aichi Kikai Kōgyō Kabushiki Kaisha, is integrated with the Nissan corporate structure.Products
Aircraft
Engines
- Aichi AC-1 - 1929 experimental nine-cylinder radial engine
- Aichi Atsuta - licensed copy of the Daimler-Benz DB 601A inverted V12
- Aichi Ha-70 - two Atsuta engines coupled together
Automotive
Nissan engines
Transmissions
- FS6R31 - with synchronous control.
- F30A / F50A / F70A
- MFA60 / MFA80
- W60A
- FS5R30A
- MRA70
- GR6
Vehicles manufactured
- Nissan Cherry
- Nissan Sunny
- Nissan Vanette
- Nissan Serena
- Cony Guppy, a two-seat microcar
- Cony 360 Wide, a cabover keitora/Microvan/minitruck
- , predecessor to Cony 360
- Cony 360 a passenger kei car