Buy Cheap New Daihatsu
The range now includes the new Daihatsu Sirion hatchback based on Yaris running gear; the New Daihatsu Materia, a
funky mini-MPV with plenty of interior space and headroom; the New Daihatsu Terios is a tough, sturdy and practical
green-lane mini 4x4; the New Daihatsu Copen is a cute roadster with a metal fold down roof. DAIHATSU TEST REPRT AND
REVIEW. An intriguing history and a reputation as the Number One manufacturer of small cars in the world has given
Daihatsu Cars the most amazing status across the entire motor industry. For a start, it is owned entirely by Toyota,
one of the world's largest and most profitable carmakers, and has been so since 1999, although its relationship with
the company started in earnest as early as 1967, which, for most Japanese car companies, was the "dawning of time",
as the period coincided with Japan's assault on car markets other than its own. Unlike several of the Japanese
carmakers, Daihatsu is not the name of its founder, as the company name is actually a concoction of two Japanese
characters (of their "alphabet"). The first "dai" is the first kanji, or character, of the town of Osaka. The
second "hatsu" is the first character of the expression "engine manufacturer". Put them together and the result is
the name of Japan's largest small car company, which is responsible for engineering all of Toyota's small car engines,
designing most of Toyota's small cars (including the current Yaris range) and even building them in joint-effort
factories. Although the company and its products remain of fairly limited interest and small volume in the UK new car
scene, it is largely because its interests are managed by a concessionaire, rather than the actual manufacturer.
Whether this situation will ever change is always open to question but the Birmingham-based IM Group remains the
current UK representative for the brand, although the actual number of models sold in the UK is limited compared with
the company's actual production line-up, as many of the models are from the Japanese "kei" class of models, which
are the truly sub-compact city-class of machines many of which do not meet European safety standards.
