The Daihatsu Chairman in his opening remarks mentioned DreamEdge but did not elaborate.
We are at the 2019 Tokyo Motor Show and we have just visited the Daihatsu showcase and the biggest attraction is this new Crossover from Daihatsu. This new vehicle is called a ‘SUV’ by Daihatsu, but we see it more like a Crossover due to its size, height and looks. There is no given name plate on the vehicle and just the Daihatsu badges and logo around the vehicle.
A direct rival to the soon to be launched Proton X50 and the established Honda HR-V and the Mazda CX3, this new Daihatsu will probably be the vehicle that Malaysian technology company DreamEdge is looking at for their proposed third national car.
Taking a walk around this new Daihatsu Crossover it looks like a product that Malaysians will like to own and drive, but we thought that this new 3rd national car program was going to be an electric vehicle or at least a plug-in hybrid in line with the recent Prime Ministers call for a new technology vehicle to fill in the current gap of affordable energy efficient vehicles in the market for the lower income Malaysians to be able to buy and drive.
Here at the show we do not see a Daihatsu showroom ready electric vehicle and Daihatsu does not have a full electric car program running.
On June 6th this year Toyota Motor Corporation and Subaru Corporation announced that they have agreed to jointly develop a platform dedicated to battery electric vehicles (BEVs) for midsize and large passenger vehicles and to jointly develop a C-segment-class BEV SUV model for sale under each company’s own brand.
By combining their respective strengths, such as the all-wheel-drive technologies that Subaru has cultivated over many years and the vehicle electrification technologies that Toyota is employing to bring together other companies that share its aspirations, the two companies intend to take up the challenge of creating attractive products with appeal that only BEVs can offer.
