A legendary Nissan executive who led the Japanese carmaker's U.S. invasion in the late 1950s, built its West Coast offices and headed operations in America for 20 years said the company will be making a big mistake if it moves its headquarters from the prestigious Los Angeles market.
Yutaka Katayama, "Mr. K" to Nissan and Datsun fans, said in a letter to Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn that a move from California to either the Nashville area or Texas would hurt the company he helped build.
"In the 1980s Nissan lost huge assets in the United States when the 'Datsun' label was removed from its products," Katayama said in an Oct. 20 letter to Ghosn. "I do not want Nissan to make a similar public relations mistake."
Nissan had no official response to the letter, which was delivered in Tokyo. Katayama sent the letter to The Tennessean by e-mail yesterday.
"It's been delivered to Mr. Ghosn, and I'm sure Mr. Ghosn has read it," Nissan spokesman Fred Standish said.
Nissan is studying the possibility of moving its headquarters from the Los Angeles area to Cool Springs. People familiar with the company's plans said an announcement that it's coming to the Nashville area could come Thursday.
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