daihatsu.co.uk/
"It was announced on 13th January 2011 that sales of Daihatsu motor cars will cease across Europe on 31st January 2013. This is due to the ongoing strength of the Japanese Yen, which has increased prices beyond competitive levels. There is no stock of new Daihatsu cars in the UK, and we do not expect to import any new cars in this interim period.
However, we wish to reassure Daihatsu owners that all after sales services will continue unaffected. Therefore, the supply of spare parts will continue, and warranty work and servicing will be carried out at our official UK dealer network, which remains in place and whose details can be found on this website.
We thank Daihatsu customers for their past custom and loyalty, and share their disappointment at this news."
Other than Stu and his pink one, will anyone else miss them?
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sorry??????/
who again????????
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I would imagine the dealers that sell them will miss them. Sounds like they have stopped selling new in the UK now.
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They will be missed because their slightly unusual designs but in the UK I am surprised they sold anything at all lately.
They were competing directly with Kia and Hyundai but could not compete with them on price any longer. Rather than being cut price Japaneese cars they were asking Toyota money for a brand a lot of people were unaware of.
It is a shame but I have a feeling others will follow.
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>> However, we wish to reassure Daihatsu owners that all after sales services will continue unaffected.
>> Therefore, the supply of spare parts will continue, and warranty work and servicing will be
>> carried out at our official UK dealer network, which remains in place and whose details
>> can be found on this website.
Yeah right.
Parts, support and warranty will disappear down the toilet faster than you can pull the chain.
>> We thank Daihatsu customers for their past custom and loyalty, and share their disappointment at
>> this news."
That translates to "get stuffed"
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I remember when Lada stopped in around 1997, they saisd the same things no issue with parts but within a couple of years spares were a lot harder to get hold off.
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This is rather old news. They havent imported anything since early 2009 according to my supplying dealer. Apparently they have kept the dealers on so that if currency rates change enough they can relaunch quickly and as the importer sells other stuff, its not do or die, its do if possible.
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Looks like IM will be replacing Daihatsu with the first Chinese cars imported to the UK, smart move I suspect, especially since it seems the cars are based on old Toyota tech just like Daihatsu was - the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Seems they are a decent sized company too, not sure 'Great Wall' is a name that will sell here though...
www.gwm.com.cn/en/index.html
Gotta say, Im not sure a Great Wall Wingle will sell here, dear oh dear.
Last edited by: stunorthants29 on Wed 19 Jan 11 at 23:27
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Time to bring back the "Flying Bomb" name and logo? specially if they make a hybrid.
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The great wall Perri is actually banned from sale in Europe.
Watch this clip right to the end.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mggVo8xXus
You can see why it is band. They never paid FIAT a single penny for that design.
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Rats but they did make it look more appealing to the eye........ :)
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Peri - Fiat Panda with Nissan Note overtones.
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>> Seems they are a decent sized company too, not sure 'Great Wall' is a name that will sell here though...
I've seen Great Wall and Geeley showrooms in Russia, but never seen one of their cars on the road. Russians see them as the same as Ladas but worse. Time will tell.
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Looks like their first offering will be based on the last model Yaris - Russians are quite stupid if they think that puts it on a par with a Lada.
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>> Looks like their first offering will be based on the last model Yaris - Russians
>> are quite stupid if they think that puts it on a par with a Lada.
Think you'll find the Great Wall Voleex or whatever they call it when it is imported is simply a Chinese copy of the Yaris, no Toyota engineering involved.
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Better tell HJ he has it wrong then.
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>> Better tell HJ he has it wrong then.
You can if you want. But he can make a fool of himself and website if he wants. He's adult ;-)
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>> Better tell HJ he has it wrong then.
I've pointed out a few mistakes to HJ in the CBC over the years, which he's corrected and thanked me for pointing out. I haven't been on the site for so long I didn't think to look there to be honest.
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Well, he called it a reinvention of the 2nd generation Yaris, so given that it doesnt look at all like a Yaris other than the generic supermini shape and bearing in mind it has 1.3 and 1.5 VVT engines as with the Yaris, I think he is suggesting theres alot of Toyota Yaris in there somewhere, presumably under license.
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>> presumably under license.
Maybe not considering Toyota own Daihatsu.
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>> I think he is suggesting theres alot of Toyota Yaris in there somewhere, presumably under license.
A Chinese company doing something under licence? LOL! It's a copy. That's what the Chinese do. They take a successful product, take it to pieces and then copy it. They have University campusses full of people reverse engineering Western products.
I've seen copies of Western products from companies I worked for/with where even the software faults were identical in the Chinese versions. Hell will freeze over before Chinese companies start paying licence fees for ideas they steal.
The authorities turn a blind eye to blatant intellectual property infringements - it's considered the price of Western companies being allowed to do business there.
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That's what you get from reading only part of the thread ;-) Some Chinese companies do makes cars in conjunction with other manufacturers under licence. e.g. VWs for the local Chinese market.
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>> That's what you get from reading only part of the thread ;-) Some Chinese companies
>> do makes cars in conjunction with other manufacturers under licence. e.g. VWs for the local
>> Chinese market.
VW has a couple of joint ventures (50/50) in China manufacturing e.g. Passats but these are not licence agreements. Until a couple of years ago a Joint Venture was the only practical way a non-Chinese company was allowed to sell or manufacture there. VW now additionally have some wholly businesses, but the joint ventures continue. It's not easy for a foreign company to wind down a holding, Joint Venture or otherwise, in China.
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If that is the case that is exactly what they did with the Panda. The Perri some how has the identical dashboard to the Panda yet FIAT say they have no permision at all to use that design.
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Daihatsu dealers in Germany are offering (allegedly) brand new Sirions for 42% off list price. Takes the asking price down to 7,500 Euros which is what Fiat are asking for the new Panda we were investigating for Mrs B. Both with PAS and aircon, but the Sirion has a 91bhp engine. Probably give it a miss, though I do like the Sirion and the Materia despite the Starion inspired names.
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My one and only Daihatsu was our first Japanese 4WD experience, one of the old F20 models. A red soft top with bull bar like this ...
www.gonzo4x4.be/images/meeting_052.jpg
After a few early LRs it seemed quite car like.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Thu 20 Jan 11 at 07:59
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A lot of people are not even aware of this brand.
However, car enthusiasts will miss them. Daihatsu makes reliable cars and they are still made in Japan.
They have always been in a niche market and sadly their price is no longer competitive.
But that is business - some win some lose.
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Will Daihatsu be missed?
In exactly the same way that Ferrari would be missed if it disappeared. Most people wouldn't be particularly bothered, a few would be rather saddened, and a handful would regard it as a tragedy. Possibly a larger handful, but in the end of the day, it's just a small difference in magnitude.
For myself, the answer is that I never seriously considered buying one, so I will not really miss them, but I am saddened that a slightly unusual brand is disappearing from the market.
The real story, of course, is that despite Japan's financial difficulties over the past couple of decades, the Yen has strengthened considerably against western currencies, and is now worth almost twice as much in Sterling as in the middle of 2007. If you buy something made in Japan these days, it is a notable purchase.
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Watch for Subaru to be next as they are looking rather pricey now, if the exchange rate gets worse still, they wont be viable either. Isuzu aswell. No woinder IM are going to China.
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Not so sure Lexus will last that long either. They actually offered me a discount recently. Good Lord.
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Toyota own a majority stake in Daihatsu and is the leading shareholder in Fuji Heavy Industries (the owner of Subaru).
Both Daihatsu and Subaru are due to begin producing vehicles for Toyota later this year - Daihatsu to supply Toyota with mini-cars, and Subaru will also be used to produce Toyota vehicles on a sub-contract basis. Daihatsu also use Toyota engines for their cars above 900cc (e.g the 1.0 litre, 1.3 litre and 1.5 litre engines).
Gievn this sharing of production, I am surprised that Toyota haven't considered rationalising their vehicle import arrangements for Europe - due to economies of scale, it would be cheaper for Toyota, Daihatsu and Subaru to share shipping arrangements rather than continue to operate separately.
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Daihatsu UK Market Share:
2006: 0.17%
2007: 0.21%
2008: 0.23%
2009: 0.12%
2010: 0.01%
Subaru UK Market Share:
2006: 0.31%
2007: 0.25%
2008: 0.22%
2009: 0.19%
2010: 0.19%
The collapse in Daihatsu's market share in the past 3 years is dramatic. Subaru's market share has merely dipped by comparison. I'm not quite sure why the change in the exchange rate affected Daihatsu more than Subaru. (Lexus market share down by 50% - a little worse than Subaru.)
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Likely because Daihatsu needed to sell cars cheaper than most to be attractive and the margins at that end are smaller.
Perodua have actually expanded their range of Sirion based Myvis to include one with leather seats. Having had a look at one, its very much the same car, but obviously not made in Japan - worth noting that Subaru no longer lists the Sirion based Justy either.
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Daihatsu stopped imports into the UK at the end of 2009/start of 2010 - which would explain the 2010 sales performance.
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When we bought our Sirion in Dec 2008, the dealer told me in the January that they were only ordering from the importers stock even then, so its an older issue than that.
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Dad bought a brand new Sirion in May last year. It turned out it was import from Ireland and lacked reverse parking sensors, alloys and some minor trim items. However we are very happy with the car itself, but not with the dealer for not telling us the truth and hiding the fact that the car was an import and missing bits of kit. He supplied a UK brochure from which we automatically assumed we would get the car shown in the photos.
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Those equipment bits are the difference between the S and the SE, I take it he has an SE?
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Yes we were 'buying' an SE.
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My local garage swapped from Daihatsu franchise(?) to Subaru last year, it struck me as being a frying pan to fire change.
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>> The collapse in Daihatsu's market share in the past 3 years is dramatic. Subaru's market
>> share has merely dipped by comparison. I'm not quite sure why the change in the
>> exchange rate affected Daihatsu more than Subaru. (Lexus market share down by 50% - a
>> little worse than Subaru.)
>>
Yes, but Subaru's 30% decline in market share has come over a period when the diesel boxer engine has come on stream - surely their share should have increased by 30% with this extra weapon in their arsenal?
Oh, hang on. I forgot about the 'styling' of the new Imprezza.
Last edited by: VxFan on Fri 21 Jan 11 at 00:48
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"I'm not quite sure why . . . "
"the diesel boxer engine has come on stream"
Ahh. Thanks for that.
So - while Subaru sales have not been good, it could well turn out to be that the diesel boxer engine was the thing that saved them from oblivion. Their situation may not be brilliant, but it is a lot better than Daihatsu's.
Last edited by: tyro on Thu 20 Jan 11 at 12:48
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Some of the best driving moments I've had on the road came during one particular week in the 1990s in a new 99bhp Daihatsu Charade gtti - 0-60mph in 7.7 seconds...:-)
Not bad for a 999cc three pot turbocharged unit, although the Japs were always very adept at producing small, high revving, high powered engines for cars and bikes.
Remember the similar 660cc 64bhp units produced by Mitsubishi and others to boost small cars' performance and combat the legislation that that was the maximum horse power allowed for vehicles sold in Japan around 30 years ago?
See:
tinyurl.com/4ra2ytn
for some examples.
Last edited by: Stuartli on Thu 20 Jan 11 at 15:26
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>> Some of the best driving moments I've had on the road came during one particular
>> week in the 1990s in a new 99bhp Daihatsu Charade gtti - 0-60mph in 7.7
>> seconds...:-)
This is actually the only Daihatsu I could name or recognise on the road. An absolutely brilliant little car which really upset the applecart in its day.
What have they been doing since??
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Didn't Daihatsu import a tiny 4WD Jeep-thing that Clarkson used as the fox in a cross-country hunt? Forgotten its name. Looked like a pretty capable 4WD, along the lines of a Panda 4wd. Never see 'em on the roads though!
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That was the latest Terios - based on the previous generation RAV4
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I nearly bought a Cuore Avanzato in 1998, really wish I had now, went sensible instead.
Heres a pic of one
www.pakwheels.com/forums/vehicles-bikes/144184-dihatsu-mira-avanzato-2
Little 4x4 screamer.
They also did turbo and 4x4 versions of the old model Sirion and YRV, both nutty little cars.
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Oh dear, things are bad when we are getting dewy eyed over Daihatsu
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Well, we arent all beige like you.
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I know, it must be terrible knowing you could have bought a car with some degree of talent and instead you bought a motoring cardigan. No wonder your jelous :-)
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is that shed of yours still vibrating in the wind?
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Yeah, keeps me amused till Monday, unlike a Lancer driver who is either looking for a fare or falling asleep with boredom before turning the key. Yawn.
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I have the excitement of putting mine through its second MOT next week.
That would be new for you, a car that lasts more than a year.
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 20 Jan 11 at 21:13
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If the annual MOT is the height of excitement for you, the car must be depressively dull... you got beige socks to go with the beige cardigan? Maybe some Wether's? I hear they do a range of flavours, how exciting for you!
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Daihatsu - Will they be missed? - Bellboy
