Datsun DS series

The Datsun DS series was introduced in 1950 as the replacement for the Datsun DA. It used Datsun's truck chassis, itself based on pre-war Datsun designs closely based on the Austin Seven. A more luxurious range with the same truck underpinnings, called the DB series, was sold in parallel. With Datsun's own manufacturing resources being limited, they built the chassis and outsourced the manufacture of the bodies: the sparser "Thrift" (DS) series received bodies built by Suminoe Manufacturing, while the ponton-bodied Deluxe models were bodied by Central Japan Heavy-Industries' Ryowa Body subsidiary (this company later became Shin-Mitsubishi Heavy Industries).