1990 Daihatsu Hijet Climber Dump Bed 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

Toyota says president, chairman of scandal-hit Daihatsu unit to step down

TOKYO — Toyota Motor Corp said on Tuesday both the president and chairman of Daihatsu Motor will step down almost a year after the small-car unit said it had rigged collision safety-tests. The departures are among the most drastic changes Daihatsu has made so far, as Toyota seeks to return the brand to its roots as one of Japan's most iconic compact car makers. Toyota faces a potential hit to its reputation from the safety certification lapses at Daihatsu, as well as separate governance issues at truck maker Hino Motors and affiliate Toyota Industries. The scandals at the three companies triggered a rare apology of Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda last month. In a statement, the world's top-selling automaker said its chief executive officer for the Latin America and Caribbean region, Masahiro Inoue, will replace Soichiro Okudaira as Daihatsu's president effective March 1. Daihatsu's chairman, Sunao Matsubayashi, will also step down and will not be replaced, Toyota added. The outgoing Okudaira had worked at Toyota for nearly four decades before becoming president of Daihatsu in 2017, a year after it became a wholly owned Toyota subsidiary. Toyota Chief Executive Koji Sato told reporters, however, that the organizational change at Daihatsu was not carried out as a punishment for the outgoing executives. In volume terms, Daihatsu accounted for 7% of Toyota's total group sales of 11.2 million vehicles in 2023, including those of the luxury Lexus brand and Hino Motors. Given the misconduct over the safety test certification applications, Daihatsu also will be removed from a commercial vehicle partnership known as the Commercial Japan Partnership Technologies (CJPT), the automaker said in a separate statement. The partnership was established in April 2021 by Toyota, Hino and Isuzu Motors to facilitate technology development for commercial vehicles. Suzuki Motor and Daihatsu joined in July the same year. Daihatsu's 10% equity stake in the partnership will be transferred to Toyota, the statement said. (Reporting by Daniel Leussink and Satoshi Sugiyama; Editing by Kim Coghill & Shri Navaratnam and Miral Fahmy) Government/Legal Hirings/Firings/Layoffs Plants/Manufacturing Toyota Daihatsu

Takata airbag recalls add another 5 million vehicles

The Takata airbag inflator recall expanded by about 6.5 million vehicles recently when Toyota and Nissan announced global expansions to replace the faulty parts. You can add another 5 million more as Honda and Daihatsu also broaden their replacement campaigns. Although in this latest case, none of the affected models are in the United States or Canada. Honda is recalling 4.89 million more vehicles globally, and Daihatsu has about 260,000 to repair in Japan, according to Automotive News. With these latest expansions, all of the affected automakers have needed to fix about 36 million vehicles globally for these faulty airbags since 2008. Some of the first instances of these problems were found in an Isuzu campaign in 2001. This latest round of recalls was sparked by a study from Takata that found the inflators' propellant could be affected by moisture over time. While the automakers received this information in March, it took time to determine the number of vehicles in need of repair and where they were located, according to Automotive News. To make sure all of the affected vehicles in the US are repaired in a timely fashion, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is reportedly considering a strategy to force things to speed up. Honda and Toyota are already using outside suppliers for the parts they need. Related Video: News Source: Automotive News - sub. req.Image Credit: Shizuo Kambayashi / AP Photo Recalls Honda Daihatsu Safety Takata airbag recall