1996 Daihatsu Charade on 2040-cars

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Junkyard Gem: 1990 Daihatsu Charade

The North American automotive landscape is littered with the bones of overseas marques that tried and failed to get a toehold here. Peugeot, Austin, Sterling, Yugo, Suzuki, Daewoo… the list goes on and on. Daihatsu had the backing of majority shareholder Toyota and a very successful line of vehicles in its Japanese homeland, so the idea of selling in North America seemed to make sense in the late 1980s. Things didn't work out so well in the end, but two models of Daihatsu could be purchased here for the 1988 through 1992 model years. Here's an example of the better-known Daihatsu, spotted in a Denver-area U-Wrench yard. Apologies for the beschmutzified images; I was pulling vast quantities of Junkyard Boombox parts at this yard's All You Can Carry For $59.99 Sale that day, and I got transmission fluid on the lens. The Charade was very cheap and pretty well screwed-together, but it had to compete against cheap cars from well-known makes such as Subaru (the Justy), Pontiac (the Daewoo-built LeMans), Ford (the Mazda-built Festiva), and Geo (the Suzuki-built Metro), and it was saddled with one of the worst names in automotive history. At least the suits at Daihatsu got the naming thing right with their little mini-SUV: the Rocky. Strangely, I still see the occasional Daihatsu as I roam the car graveyards of the land. I'm not sure where they hide, but they end up here. The three-banger in the '90 Charade generated a not-so-whopping 53 horsepower. Think about that the next time you moan about the new Mirage's allegedly intolerable 78 horses, or the Versa's 109. In Hong Kong, the car's Japanese origins were emphasized in the advertising. We've set a new standards for new cars todayÂ… but you can't feel the glow until you drive one away! Featured Gallery Junked 1990 Daihatsu Charade View 14 Photos Auto News Daihatsu Automotive History Junkyard Gems

Suzuki and Daihatsu join Toyota electric vehicle venture

TOKYO — Suzuki Motor Corp and Daihatsu are joining a commercial electric vehicle coalition led by Toyota Motor Corp, the carmakers announced on Wednesday, helping the Japanese alliance expand its focus from trucks to smaller cars. The two automakers will each acquire a 10% stake in the joint venture, on par with Isuzu Motors and Hino Motors, while Toyota will hold a 60% stake, they said. "With Suzuki and Daihatsu joining the project and working together, we'll be able to expand our circle of cooperation to not only cover commercial vehicles but also mini vehicles," said Toyota President Akio Toyoda. "With this expansion, I believe that we'll be able to take one step closer to a better mobility society," Toyoda said. The move comes as Japanese automakers face growing competition from tech giants and other rivals making electric and driverless cars. Toyota, Isuzu and Hino launched the Commercial Japan Partnership Technologies Corporation in April to bolster their competitive edge in connected, commercial vehicles. Daihatsu's president Soichiro Okudaira said joining the pact and introducing connected, mini-commercial vehicles would allow data sharing, a major benefit for companies to provide better services to customers and improve logistics efficiency. (Reporting by Eimi Yamamitsu; Writing by Ritsuko Ando; Editing by Louise Heavens) Related Video: Green Suzuki Toyota Daihatsu Electric Akio Toyoda

Daihatsu's Tokyo Auto Salon cars are absolutely adorable

There are some pretty weird and wonderful cars coming to the Tokyo Auto Salon in January, from Honda's vintage-style S660 coupe to the off-road Mitsubishi Delica D:5. But as cool as they are, none can approach Daihatsu for sheer cuteness. The company is showing off special versions of its tiny Kei class cars at the custom car show. We've got photos of most of them, but we're going to highlight the best of the bunch, below. We'll start with the Daihatsu Copen coupe (the little green guy up there). The Copen is the Japanese car company's micro-sized roadster, similar in scale to the Honda S660, except it's front-wheel drive. It also has a trick retractable hard top. The Copen coupe loses the retractable top in favor of a rakish permanent hard top. It's based on a concept from 2016 that clearly was popular enough to merit a production model. The styling also comes from the Copen Cero, which has friendly round lights and soft corners, a significant contrast to the edgy, aggressive Copen Robe and XPlay. The coupe model starts a little over $20,000 at current conversion rates and is available with either a CVT or a five-speed manual coupled to a turbocharged 660-cc three-cylinder engine. Daihatsu is also showing more practical cars including some custom versions of the Mira Tocot. The two that grabbed our attention are the Tocot Sporza and the Tocot Active. The former is an angry red hot hatch with a unique red and black paint scheme. Along the side are giant letters spelling out the Tocot Sporza name. This look has a lot of history at Daihatsu, having been featured on the Mira TR-XX, as well as the Charade De Tomaso. And, yes, we mean that De Tomaso. The Tocot Active, on the other hand, has a simple, retro aesthetic with its cheerful blue paint, plain black door handles, and ultra classy cream steel wheels. Then we have a special edition of what we've previous proclaimed to be the most adorable car in the world: the Move Canbus. It looks like it's just happy to be alive, and looks all the better with the blue and white two-tone paint job that would be right at home on a VW Bus. But the German van isn't where the color scheme comes from. Instead, it's inspired by Hatsune Miku, a virtual character from a Japanese singing synthesizer that is enormously popular in Japan. The blue and white mirror her hair and outfits, and small pops of fuchsia match her hair bows. We also have to quickly note the Daihatsu Hijet Marche.