Archive for Daihatsu

Looking at photos are one thing but seeing a concept car in real life is another. The Daihatsu e:S manages to look compact but somehow not excessively cheap at the same time, so you feel like if you bought one, it’s purely because you do not need anything bigger – just two seats and a small boot behind your front seats. The e:S has some really small rear seats though making it somewhat like a 2+2, but you’re better off using that space as a boot instead.

To give you an idea, the e:S Concept’s 2,175mm wheelbase is actually even shorter than the now-”extinct” Kancil’s 2,280mm wheelbase. It’s based on an existing platform but had its wheelbase shortened so it should mean the development cost for a production car would not be excessively high.

Weight loss techniques such as slim and lightweight seats and light materials give the e:S a total weight of 700 kg. As a result, its 660cc engine with auto-start stop can take it as far as 30km on a liter of fuel under the Japan 10-15 drive mode.

Look after the jump for a live photo gallery of the e:S.

Click here to read the rest of Tokyo Live 2009: Daihatsu e:S Concept

Nikkei reports that Toyota and Daihatsu are working on a new small car that can be sold for less than US$11,000 (RM37,268) in emerging economies like India and Brazil. I’m really not sure what the big fuss is considering we have the baseline Perodua Viva BX sold here for RM25,300, but perhaps this new car will be something bigger yet cheaper. The cheapest Perodua Myvi here is the 1.0 liter SR at RM38,924.10.

This new car will be designed for developing country export markets. Right now, Toyota’s Daihatsu-sourced compact cars have been mostly export versions of its Japanese market cars with more Westernised names. For example, the Japanese market Daihatsu Coo is called the Materia in some other markets.

Toyota’s new president Akio Toyoda’s vision is for Toyota to start tailor-making products for individual regions rather than just offering the same vehicle line-up across the world market. This goes the other direction compared to the World Car projects that other automakers are embarking on. GM’s American Cobalt and Korean Optra are basically in the same segment and have been replaced by a single model – the Cruze.

But if Toyota can tailor-make different products for cheap, they may do better in terms of sales. I have a feeling making small cars for developing countries and selling them at the same price as their existing Japan market small cars have more to do with boosting profit margins rather than anything else, as customers in those regions do not really expect the kind of refinement that JDM customers do.

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Want a cheap “landaulet”? Get a Daihatsu Basket Concept when it goes into production. Right now it’s just a concept little lifestyle “K-truck” with a removable soft top over the rear seats. There’s even a little boot deck behind the rear seats for tools and stuff in case the Basket is used to carry stuff, like another tool commonly used by people with the same name, the common basket.

And then we also have this fridge on wheels that’s called the Daihatsu DecaDeca. There is no B-pillar and both the front and rear doors swing outwards towards the front and rear of the van respectively. And like most K-vehicles in Japan, it is powered by a 660cc engine. And it’s nice that both the DecaDeca and the Basket do have a certain family resemblance about them.

This is the new Daihatsu e:S. It weighs just 700kg and is powered by a 660cc engine, typical of K-cars in Japan. The car looks like it’s in the same class as the Ford Ka and it uses a current Daihatsu production platform but with its wheelbase shortened to 2,175mm. That’s even shorter than the Viva’s 2,390mm. The light weight and the fuel efficient engine with features such as Idling Stop System results in an estimated fuel efficiency of 30km per liter under the Japan 10-15 test! In case you were wondering what the name meant – e:S stands for ‘eco and smart’.

Four larger photos available after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Tokyo 2009: Daihatsu e:S compact car

Daihatsu has launched yet another body variation of the Mira in Japan, this time called the Mira Cocoa, joining the Mira and the Mira Custom in the K-car range.

In Daihatsu’s own words, the use of the name Cocoa was chosen because the car intends to give the driver and passengers that comfortable and relaxed feeling of drinking a hot cup of cocoa on a cold day.

The Mira Cocoa measures 1,530mm in height, 1,930mm long and 1,345mm wide. Only one engine option is available in Japan – the 660cc KF-VE with DVVT variable valve timing, producing 58 PS at 7,200rpm and 65Nm of torque at 4,000rpm. There are two different transmissions available – a 4-speed auto or a CVT transmission, with the latter being more fuel efficient.

For the 2WD car, the CVT can provide up to 23.5 km per liter on the Japan 10-15 test cycle while the 4-speeder can only do 19.4km per liter. 4WD versions can do 20km and 18.6km per liter respectively for the CVT and 4-speed cars.

Daihatsu is shouting about the funky new rear view mirror that they’re using in the Mira Cocoa, claiming its the first of its kind installed in a vehicle in Japan. It integrates a back view monitor into the rear view mirror, which is also equipped with an auto anti-glare function. Now I wonder why there’s no mention of aerodynamics values…

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Daihatsu Motor Co Ltd has launched the new Daihatsu Luxio in Indonesia. While the Toyota Passo Sette/Daihatsu Boon Luminas could be considered a baby Wish of sorts, the Luxio is a baby Alphard, and unlike the Passo Sette offers dual sliding rear doors. This vehicle used to go by the “Daihatu Stylo” codename while still under development, but later the Luxio name was picked and finalised.

Under the hood is the often-used 3SZ-VE 1.5 liter DOHC VVT-i cast-iron block engine producing 109 PS at 6,000rpm and 141Nm of torque at 4,400rpm, available with either a 5-speed manual or a 4-speed automatic. While offering similiar power outputs to the 1NZ-FE in the Vios, does not have the NZ-series engine’s aluminium block. The Luxio uses a MacPherson strut suspension at the front and a 5-link rigid axle at the rear. The body is said to be built on a monocoque chassis. It is 4,165mm long, 1,665mm wide, 1,915mm tall, has 180mm ground clearance and a turning circle of 5.2 meters.

If you feel you’ve seen this before I don’t blame you. It is essentially a Daihatsu Gran Max converted to a more passenger-friendly equipment level and design, squarely targeted to those who prefer sliding doors and cannot afford a real Alphard. That way it can plug the gaps in the product offering of the Boon Luminas.

Astra Daihatsu Motor targets sales of 1,000 units a month at a price tag of between 136 to 165 million rupiah, which is approximately between RM42k to RM51k for 4 spec levels ranging from the D, M, X, and X automatic.

If you were in the market for a Perodua MPV, would you rather they base it on the Passo Sette/Boon Luminas or this new Luxio? Look after the jump for more pix of the Luxio.

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Subaru has revealed a newly improved Justy 1.0R which is basically a re-badged version of the Daihatsu Sirion which is known in Malaysia as the Perodua Myvi.

This newly “improved” version, designated as the Justy 1.0 Twin Cam Special Edition carries a limited production run of 100 units only, with 50 finished in Black Mica and another 50 in Shinning Red.

With a base price of £9,995 which is about £700 more than the standard 1.0R, the Twin Cam Special Edition is powered by the same 68HP 3 cylinder engine found in the 1.0R, and is treated to a rear roof spoiler, twin exhaust system, over roof ‘viper stripes’ and side decals, leather and alloy gear knob and rear privacy glass.

As standard, just like the 1.0R model, it features ABS with EBD, radio/CD player with AUX input, four electric windows and remote central-locking. There are also driver, passenger, front side and curtain airbags. Potential buyers can also opt for 15-inch Monza R alloy wheels wrapped with Toyo 185/55R15 tires for an extra £ 600.

Just the Myvi we have back at home, it is also one of the cheapest vehicles to run in Europe with a 64.2 miles to the gallon fuel consumption figure based on the Extra Urban Cycle and an annual £ 35 Road Fund License fee. Subaru also further revealed that “The new Justy 1.0 Twin Cam now offers even more, and offers a racy alternative for the younger, and the young-at-heart, motorist”.

Toyota’s latest compact 7-seater MPV has been unveiled in Japan on Christmas day, so let’s check out the full details of the new compact people carrier that will make its way onto Malaysian shores sometime in the second half of 2009 as the new Perodua MPV.

As with alot of other Toyota compact cars, the new MPV is available under both the Toyota and Daihatsu badges as compact cars like these are pretty much mainly Daihatsu-engineered as it is their speciality.

The Toyota version is called the Toyota Passo Sette, which essentially means Passo Seven, or a 7-seater version of the Toyota Passo. Sette means seven in Italian. The Daihatsu version is called the Daihatsu Boon Luminas, where Luminas is a combination of the words roomy and luminous.

All variants of the Passo Sette and the Boon Luminas are powered by the 1.5 liter 3SZ-VE engine putting out 109 PS at 6,000rpm and 141Nm of torque at 4,400rpm. Both front wheel drive and 4WD variants use a 4-speed auto, and the front wheel drive version is rated at 15.6km per liter under the 10-15 Japanese test cycle. There is an Eco-Drive indicator light on the dashboard to inform the driver when his driving style is economical.

As previously reported, the compact Toyota Passo Sette measures 4,180mm long, 1,695mm wide and 1,620mm tall, with a long 2,750mm wheelbase to maximize the interior space which is 2,550mm long. The Boon Luminas CX with a bodykit is slightly longer at 4,195mm. Other dimensions that Toyota has provided include a 1,630mm space between the front and rear seat rows, a 150mm split seat slide for the middle row, a wide 935mm rear door opening to ease getting in and out, and a 630mm hip point for the driver to also aide ingress and egress.

Despite the car’s relatively long wheelbase its wheels are at the edges of the vehicle so it is compact and it has a 5.2m turning radius.

Toyota has provided the Toyota Passo Sette with some nice features in the interior including a rear seat entertainment system with a 7 inch widescreen monitor, a DVD player with headphone outputs, and the ability to play different media in the front and rear entertainment systems. There is an optional keyless entry and start with a key fob.

The Boon Luminas also comes standard with a “music server”, which essentially lets you rip 660 minutes of audio content from your audio CDs and store it onto the car’s on-board entertainment system so you don’t have to carry your CDs around in your car. This is also a specifiable option for the Toyota Passo Sette.

The Japanese specs offers some rather decent safety features, though in the interests of cost and maximizing profit I doubt all of them will make it onto the Perodua specifications. The Passo Sette and Boon Luminas has a total of 6 SRS airbags, vehicle stability control (VSC), traction control, Dynamic Support Headrests which reduce the risk of rear-end collision whiplash, and finally ABS brakes.

Now for the Japanese market prices. The Daihatsu Boon Luminas has higher specs so it is more expensive starting from 1,535,000 yen all the way up to 2,073,000 yen, while the lower spec Toyota Passo Sette starts from 1,490,000 yen but can be fully loaded up to a maximum price of 2,033,000 yen.

Please continue reading for a whole load of more photos and videos! It will give you a rough idea of the car to expect next year from Perodua.

Click here to read the rest of Toyota Passo Sette 7-seater MPV: full details!

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LATEST UPDATE: Toyota Passo Sette 7-seater MPV – full details!

Toyota and Daihatsu have called for a joint press conference in Japan on Christmas day to unveil their latest 7-seater compact MPV, strongly believed to be named the Toyota Passo Sette and the Daihatsu Boon Ruminous. After the car’s public unveiling this month, it will go on sale early next year about the same time as Proton is expected to launch its MPV, which could pose a problem for Proton as potential customers in Malaysia would be able to get a preview of this new MPV that will hit Malaysian roads as a Perodua in Q3 2009, just half a year after the Proton MPV is launched.

Still, the two vehicles are not exactly in the same segment. This new Toyota/Daihatsu/Perodua MPV is smaller than the Proton MPV. However because is primarily a Daihatsu product, it inherits the Japanese K-car’s expertise in squeezing the most space into the smallest package. The engine under the hood will be the 3SZ-VE 1.5 liter that’s found in the Toyota Avanza, but installed transversely instead of longitudinally and powering the front wheels instead of the rear wheels.

(dimension comparison table from my previous post)

Given how many Malaysians think long and hard between the Persona and the Myvi as if they were in the same segment when they are actually not because of similiar pricing, this new Perodua MPV could pose a real threat to the new Proton MPV for those who just must have a “Toyota”, whether with a Perodua badge or not.

An indicated price for the Japanese market car is between 1.45 million yen to 1.8 million yen, which is about RM57k to RM70k, so that should give you guys an idea how much a localised version would cost. Don’t expect things like the column shifter you see in the brochure above to make it into the Perodua version as the Passo also had that but it got switched to a traditional shifter between the seats for the Myvi.

Whether you want to call it the new Toyota Passo Sette, or the Daihatsu Boon Ruminous, or the 2009 Perodua MPV, you can check out interior photos and a side profile which have been revealed in the brochure above, which does not mention the vehicle’s name yet. Or for more details, check out the related links listed below.

Related Posts:
2009 Perodua MPV Artist’s Impression
New Toyota MPV: details of the new 3-row compact MPV that Perodua will also build
New Perodua MPV coming in September 2009

This is one sure sign of the shift in consumer preferences towards smaller vehicles: Toyota’s global production (for all Toyota brands) was down by 12.6% to 791,665 units for the month of October and its sales in Japan dropped by 6.9% for the month compared to October last year at 177,606 units, but its Daihatsu brand improved its output by 11.5% to 82,780 units mainly thanks to increase production and demand in Indonesia. This is just going to go up even further when the new Toyota/Daihatsu/Perodua MPV (artist impression shown above) is launched early next year.

For the overall first 10 months of 2008, the Toyota Group produced 8,004,661 units, up 1.4% from the same period in 2007.

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