There have been rumours for some time now about Daihatsu withdrawing from the UK market. This follows a pause in imports of any new cars which has been in place for some weeks, blamed mainly on the poor exchange rate with the Japanese Yen. User "becky1981" has posted on copenownersclub.org.uk stating that she has received a letter from her Daihatsu dealer confirming Daihatsu's withdrawal from the UK. It will be a real shame if this turns out to be accurate, and there is no reason to doubt the claims. On the plus side, Daihatsu pulled out of Australia in March 2006, and there seems to have been no real problem with continuing to get service and support via Daihatsu's parent company Toyota. Updated: Daihatsu denies any withdrawal from the UK. I got the following statement from Daihatsu today (December 14th): "Daihatsu have not pulled out of the UK, however due to the current value of the pound against the yen we are unable to import any new cars".
For what it is worth the Daihatsu dealer in Cornwall where I bought my Copen say they have not heard anything about this. But if Daihatsu do not import cars soon it is hard to see how the dealer netwrk will keep going... Fingers crossed!
I agree, this must be very frustrating for the dealers. See the update to my earlier post - Daihatsu say they aren't pulling out of the UK, but I reckon they need to re-start imports in time for new registration sales in March if they're serious about staying in the UK market.
I received a letter from the Newport dealer today saying... It is with deep regret I have to inform you of Daihatsu's decision to withdraw from the UK market due to currency pressures on the Japanese Yen. The current position relates to car sales only. All warranty, servicing and parts supply will continue to be supported by us as normal... Going forwards, we are unable to supply new Daihatsu products... We can assure that your vehicle part exchange will be unaffected against any of our products and hope our new exciting range of cars will be of interest to you in the future. I wonder what will happen to the spares situation? Rex.
