The Nissan Maxima is a car manufactured and marketed by Nissan and offered as Nissan's flagship sedan primarily in North America, the Middle East, South Korea, and China—and currently in its eighth generation. Having debuted for model year 1982 as the Datsun Maxima, it replaced the earlier Datsun 810. The name Maxima dates to the 1981 model year when Datsun marketed the upscale 810 as the 810 Maxima in North America. Like the 810, early versions of the Maxima had their origins in the Datsun/Nissan Bluebird. It is renamed to Nissan Maxima when the Datsun brand was phased out for the 1985 model year.

Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. is a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the Nissan and Infiniti brands, and formerly the Datsun brand, with in-house performance tuning products under the Nismo and Autech brands. The company traces back to the beginnings of the 20th century, with the Nissan zaibatsu, now called Nissan Group.