The first car to wear the Maxima name was introduced in 1981. It was essentially a Japanese-market Bluebird 910

Datsun Bluebird 910

The Datsun Bluebird 910 is an automobile which was produced by Nissan from 1979 to 1986.Nissan began realigning its export names with the home market with the 910 series in November 1979. The 'B' tags were dropped in favour of 'Bluebird', though the models were 'Datsun Bluebird' initially...

 with a 3.9 in (99 mm) longer nose. The car was offered as the 810 Deluxe or 810 Maxima that first year, and all 810s became Maximas for 1982. In 1984, the last year of the first generation Maxima, American Datsuns began carrying the "Nissan" badge as well (only 1984 Nissans have both "Nissan" and "Datsun" on the back of the car).