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Daihatsu Cars

Daihatsu's roots as a company can be traced back to 1907, but the Daihatsu brand name was not used until 1951.

Firstly producing three-wheelers, Daihatsu built its first four wheelers in 1958.

From the start, the company has specialised in small passengers cars and four-wheel-drive off-roaders.

The UK saw Daihatsu's in  1966 when  the Compagno had the distinction of being the first Japanese car to be imported into the UK.

The small car range has been  dominated by the little Domino and Charade models, mostly with a distinctive three-cylinder engine, including a sub-1.0-litre diesel. The ultimate three-cylinder model was the turbocharged Charade GTti, which produced a healthy 99bhp from its 993cc engine.

At home Japan's domestic tax laws brought about a unique generation of tiny K-class city-cars, which had to comply with strict performance and dimensions rules. Daihatsu's Cuore, with a twin-cylinder 547cc engine, first appeared in 1976. This was joined a decade later by the Leeza, with the turbo version producing 50bhp.

A slight relaxation in the K-class rules has allowed these cars to be a little larger. The five-door Move, designed in conjunction with IDEA in Italy, uses a 12-valve three-cylinder 847cc engine, with a three-speed automatic as an option over the five-speed manual gearbox.

 UK promotion of the Move reflected its bizarre appearance - despite its short length, it has a roof line tall enough to allow the driver to wear a top hat (why you would want or need to remains in doubt). More conventional the Grand Move, is basically a small MPV powered by a 1.5-litre engine.

Apart from tiny cars Daihatsu have a good reputation for Strong utility vehicles.

Daihatsu's first 4wd off-roader was the utility Taft, available with engines from a 1.0 petrol to 2.5-litre diesel. Daihatsu's maimstay, The Fourtrak, launched in 1985, is more of a working vehicle than a lifestyle off-roader. The Sportrak, which was introduced in 1990, was aimed squarely at the leisure market, although it was later left behind by newer vehicles such as Honda's CR-V or the Toyota RAV4.

Daihatsu's UK range has been characterised by mechanically unremarkable, but unusually packaged and strong vehicles.