"What Car?" magazine confirms that new Daihatsus continue to be hard to find in the UK: "Daihatsu buyers are finding it increasingly difficult to find the car of their choice because dealers are running out of stock. IM Group, the company that imports Daihatsus, hasn't brought in any new cars since last summer because of the poor exchange rate between the pound and the yen." Are we ever going to see new Daihatsus in the UK again?
I understand from a motor trade mag that diahatsu dealers are being offered an alternative franchise, somthing from china i think. The mag has stated that diahatsu do remain in the uk but are currently not offering new cars. This may well change if it becomes viable to do so ( exchange rate- the pound is too low to make selling profitable-they would have to make the cars so expensive they won't sell anyway apparently) I suppose that the koreans can do it with kia and hiandry because their cost base must be lower? I also suspect diahatsus are a better quality product hence can't be made as cheaply? Another idea maybe a toyota copen , a toyota terrios etc? who knows?
The new situation will either make our Copens more desirable (and certainly more rare!!) or it will kill interest in them almost completely due to lack of availability and advertising. It doesn't matter to me at the moment because I'm not even remotely thinking about selling. M.
The Chinese franchise is Great Wall . I don't think it would necessarily be a bad thing if Daihatsu rebranded under the Toyota name in the UK. If anything, it could give a bigger choice of dealerships.
Cheeky... Sorry, I've got to post this. D'you like my snazzy new keyboard? It's made by Toyotaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
