page_title: Nissan Violet
section_title: T11 series (1981–1986)
hierarchical_section_title: Nissan Violet / T11 series (1981–1986)
caption_attribution_description: English: 1985 Nissan Stanza GL USA
context_page_description: The Nissan Violet appeared in Japan in 1973, and was exclusive to Japanese Nissan dealerships called Nissan Cherry Store as a larger companion to the Nissan Cherry.
  The second generation was then split into two additional lines in 1977, and was called the Nissan Auster and the Nissan Stanza. All three bore the A10 series identifier, and were built in Japan at both Hiratsuka and Yokosuka assembly plants to meet demand. The Stanza was exclusive to Japanese Nissan dealerships called Nissan Satio Store as a larger companion to the smaller Nissan Sunny, and the Auster triplet was exclusive to Nissan Prince Store locations as a larger companion to the Nissan Langley.
  A new third generation front-wheel drive model was launched in 1981, changing the series name again to T11, and shared the platform with the Compact MPV Nissan Prairie/Multi/Stanza Wagon. Final versions were Nissan Bluebirds series U12 rebadged for some international markets.
context_section_description: A front-wheel drive Stanza was introduced in 1981 – the first middle-class Datsun to be of that configuration, and the first Japanese car in the category built to the principles which had been established in Europe for this class since a few years back. In Europe, front-wheel drive and a liftback design were becoming the norm in this segment, although more traditional Japanese buyers still preferred the rear-wheel drive Bluebird. It remained on sale in Britain until 1986, after which Nissan sold the first British-built Bluebird as its only product in this market sector. Nissan was previously building a smaller, front wheel drive car, beginning with the 1970 Nissan Cherry, and then reconfigured the Violet to front wheel drive. 3-door hatchback, 4-door saloon, and 5-door liftback models were produced.
  After 1982, Nissan tried to standardize the Stanza name in its export markets – in addition to phasing out the Datsun marque in favour of Nissan. In the United States the T11 Stanza with the CA20S engine replaced the 510 for the 1982 model year. In the United States, the Nissan Prairie was also sold as part of the range, renamed the Stanza Wagon. In 1984, Nissan changed the engine in the Stanza from the carbureted CA20S to the fuel-injected 2.0 L, straight-four CA20E. This car was 1981 Semperit Irish Car of the Year in Ireland. Japanese and some other export models were called "Stanza FX", and were offered with 1.6 and 1.8 L engines.
  This version was sold in the United Kingdom and Europe as the Nissan Stanza; the range was "L" 1.6 L, "GL" 1.6 L, "SGL" 1.6 L and "SGL" 1.8 L. Some markets (such as Belgium, where it came fitted with the full SGL equipment) also received a 1.7-litre turbodiesel engine with 73 PS (54 kW), beginning with the 1984 model year. European market cars were generally fitted with very long gearing, making the car one of the most fuel economic in its class. It was first sold in Britain from January 1982, alongside the similar-sized rear-wheel drive Bluebird saloons and estates, which later also switched to front-wheel drive. This meant that Nissan was in the position of offering traditional rear-wheel drive saloons and estates alongside similar-sized front-wheel drive cars including hatchbacks, as this market sector was in a period of transition in the early 1980s.
  Nissan-Datsun New Zealand occasionally imported later generation Violets and other models for evaluation, or imported a small production run if additional import licences became available (there was a trading scheme enabling importers to trade unused annual license allocations with each other). One highly specified, five-door, third generation, front-drive model with automatic transmission - and then-rare air conditioning - was imported for an international distributors' conference held in NZ in 1981 and was later used by a company executive's wife before being resold through the company's own dealer network. There was also a small later shipment of cars for public sale (this time without a/c) but, as usual with low-volume imports of this type by Nissan and rivals, most were presold before the ship docked. A number of Stanzas also arrived as used imports from Japan in the late 1980s.
  In Indonesia, the T11 Stanza 1.6 L was a popular car taxi in the mid-1980s.
  The facelifted Japanese models have an upright nose, similar to that of the Bluebird U11 series. The Stanza was available in Japan at Nissan Satio Store locations, while its badge engineered companion was sold as the Japanese: Violet Liberta five-door hatchback from 1981-1982, then replaced by the smaller Pulsar based Japanese: Liberta Villa three-door hatchback. The Violet Liberta was sold at Nissan Cherry Store locations but only as a five door hatchback.
  The Auster was a higher specification and sportier version of the Stanza for the Japanese domestic market, with the emphasis towards a younger demographic. The three-door hatchback Auster GT-ES was equipped with a five-speed manual transmission. Various trim packages were labeled, 1600 CS-X, Auster JX, GS-X Extra, and the 1800 GS-L Super S
caption: 1985 facelift Nissan Stanza GL in the USA.
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