A little Daihatsu USA History
In 1987, the Daihatsu Charade hatchback 3 door was released in the US. It was priced higher than the Geo Metro and Toyota Tercel that occupied its similar market segments, and might have caused its sluggish sales and eventual demise of Daihatsu as a US brand 4 years later. 3 Trim levels; the CES (base), CLS, and CLX (high fearure) models went from the basic 3 cylinder 993cc engine (CB90) with a 5 speed manual gearbox to the 1.3L HC-E engine (with optional 3 speed automatic), and ranged from manual windows to power everything. A sedan was released in 1989, only being equipped with the 1.3L HC-E engine. In 1990 the trim level denomination was changed to the SX ad SE, low and high feature respectively. 1990 also introduced door-mounted seatbelts, a dashboard knee pad, and other features. Daihatsu also released a min-SUV called the Rocky, using the similar engine as the 1.3L Charade, but punched out a bit. The two Daihatsu models sold poorly, mostly due to their cost and the fact that gasoline was cheap at the time. Daihatsu sold their last models in 1992, then exited the country as quickly as it had come. A shame, really.
It would be really interesting to see some of the newer Daihatsu models here in the US, with gas prices slowly rising and a renewed interest in small cars at higher prices than before, thanks in part to the BMW Mini Cooper, Smart FourTwo, and the Scion xA and xB models. Maybe Toyota could bring some over and badge them as Scions, I would love to have new Cuore or Materia.
The LeMons car is a 1989 model, 4 cylinder equipped CLS with the only options being power steering, and an automatic transmission. I’ve done a factory-perfect manual conversion (all plug and play with factory manual parts), and am de-powering the rack as its a power hog and the assis won’t be neceassary on the track.
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