1996 Daihatsu Hi-jet on 2040-cars

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Daihatsu's tiny concepts bring big weird to the 2020 Tokyo Auto Salon

Daihatsu will have nine concepts at its 2020 Tokyo Auto Salon stand, featuring influences from the club to the clifftop. The most important is the Taft, which takes the Daihatsu Waku Waku concept showed at this year's Tokyo Motor Show closer to next year's production-ready form. In 1974, Daihatsu released a small, Jeep-ish 4x4 called the Taft, the name an acronym for Tall & Almighty Four-wheel Touring vehicle. The rebirth of the name on a kei-car that Daihatsu bills as "the world's first light crossover," and that comes standard with front-wheel drive and a CVT, necessitates editing the acronym to Tall & Almighty Fun Tool. The rugged pretensions of the Waku Waku are dialed back on the new Taft, with panoramic roof replacing the storage area in the Waku Waku's upper deck, rear doors and windows replacing the orange interior panels and jerry can motif, a more traditional front fascia and less cladding. Three Tanto kei cars dress up in three vastly different guises with three different front fascias. Because no auto show display can go without an overlander, the Tanto Cross Field concept delivers "Active gear you can rely on for your family," said gear appearing to be a roof rack and a set of fog lights. All we know about that Tanto Custom Premium is that it "gives off an overwhelming presence with a fearless black face" that seems to have taken design notes from the Toyota Prius and Mirai, not totally surprising since Toyota owns Daihatsu. The Tanto Marvel Spider-Man concept looks the most like a stock Tanto, wallpapered in panels from a comic book. Three Hijet microvan concepts don personalities for three different career days. The Hatsune Miku Marche concept is a working coffee stand and pop-up store dolled up in collaboration with the turquoise-haired, pony-tailed, "Vocaloid software voicebank" known as Hatsune Miku. Designers of the Hijet Peaks worked with Peaks magazine on the "playable overlander" with indoor climbing wall holds decorating the sides. Since the Hijet is only about 72 inches tall, it won't take much to climb, but Daihatsu will have a more challenging bouldering course in the stand for kids from three to 12 years old. The Hijet Jumbo DJ could be considered a giant DJ booth, DJ Kakushika making an appearance at the show to play a set in the Hijet's bed.

Daihatsu bringing retro Copen roadster, van-boat to Tokyo Auto Salon

Though its products are almost universally small (aside from its rebadged Toyota offerings), Daihatsu seems as though it'll have a fairly large presence at the 2023 Tokyo Auto Salon. It's highlighting eight main models with a few of them sporting some pretty extensive and cool modifications. The more interesting models are likely just concepts, but occasionally some of these customs result in production variants, such as a wild retro Honda S660 concept from a couple years ago. Copen Clubsport Daihatsu's sportiest offering of late is the Copen roadster. And it's celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. The kei-class roadster (shown at top) with its turbocharged 660cc engine has received drastic styling changes that put it more inline with the original. Those changes include round, retro headlights front and rear, and a much cuter round front grille. The cuter appearance is bolstered by racier appointments such as a roll bar, side skirts, rear diffuser and red-tipped exhaust outlets. As with the current Copen and the original, it still appears to have a retractable hardtop. Performance details haven't been announced, but we wouldn't be surprised if some suspension changes have been made at the least, if not any power improvements. This is also the car that had us thinking of the aforementioned Honda S660 retro model that reached production. We'd love to see it happen, as I'm sure would enthusiasts in Japan. Daihatsu Hijet Jumbo Extend View 4 Photos Hijet Jumbo Extend Designed as a hypothetical support truck for parts and more is the Hijet Jumbo Extend. It's based on the Hijet Jumbo, the extended-cab version of the Hijet kei truck. It's been fitted with a custom van box that can be extended for housing more stuff and maybe even people. The render also indicates that it will have an easily accessible fire extinguisher in a custom mount on the outside. Matching paint and a set of Volk TE37 wheels help it have the same racing-inspired look as the Copen Clubsport. Daihatsu Atrai Wildranger View 2 Photos Atrai Wildranger The third of the highly customized Daihatsu Atrai Wildranger. The company added chunky all-terrain tires and bedliner along the bottom half of its Atrai kei van. It also has suitably outdoorsy green paint. But the big attraction is what's on the roof. While looking like the van's roof, what's actually up there is a pop-off boat. That's why there are oars on either side. So this will get you both to the river, and down it.

Toyota buys Daihatsu for small-car development

Toyota is getting serious about small cars, but it's not going at it alone. Instead it's turning to its subsidiary Daihatsu, with which it will now share more resources and expertise. And in the process, it's acquiring the remaining stake in the smaller automaker. Daihatsu is a Japanese carmaker founded in its present form in 1951, but with roots that trace back as far as 1907. Toyota acquired a controlling interest of 51 percent in Daihatsu in 1988, bringing the company under its umbrella. But now it is raising its stake to 100 percent by a reciprocal share-swap agreement that will see Daihatsu's other shareholders take 0.27 shares in the larger company for each share in the smaller. As part of the new arrangement, the Daihatsu division will take the lead in developing new small cars, both for itself and for its parent company. Toyota in turn will also share key technologies with Daihatsu, and both will share each other's networks in emerging markets. The bottom line is that we can expect to see more small Toyotas and Scions developed and built by Daihatsu in the near future. The Daihatsu name may not be as familiar to Americans as some of Toyota's other brands. It briefly sold models like the Charade and Rocky in the United States under its own name in the late 1980s and early 90s. However US customers may be more familiar with those it built for the Scion brand, such as the Scion xB that was based on the Daihatsu Materia. While the realistic part of our brains force us to admit it's unlikely, the dreamer within us will hold out hope that the new arrangement could see a Scion version of the nimble little Daihatsu Kopen roadster make its way to our shores in the coming years. Toyota and Daihatsu to Strengthen Small Car Operations through Unified Global Strategy Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) and its subsidiary Daihatsu Motor Co., Ltd. (Daihatsu) have reached an agreement whereby Daihatsu will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Toyota by way of a share exchange (expected to be completed in August 2016). The purpose of the agreement is to develop of ever-better cars by adopting a unified strategy for the small car segment, under which both companies will be free to focus on their core competencies. Ultimately, this will help Daihatsu and Toyota to attain their joint goal of achieving sustainable growth. Additionally, the aim of the share exchange is to enhance the value of both brands.