In March 1996, Nissan received approval to manufacture and market commercial vehicles at Zhengzhou Nissan Automobile Co., Ltd., a joint venture with Zhengzhou Light Truck Factory and other partners.

After various commercial vehicles the new Paladin SUV debuted at the Beijing Auto Show in June 2002. Production started in 2003 and about 10,000 units were sold in that year.

In March, 2005 DongFeng Motor Co. took over 51 per cent of ownership.