The Suzuki Jimny may soon have to compete with a tiny off-roader from Daihatsu if a new report out of Japan is to be believed.
It is understood that Daihatsu is interested in turning the current-generation Taft into an off-roader. The new-age Taft was first unveiled as a concept four years ago before morphing into a production model and could serve as the base for the nearest thing to a Suzuki Jimny rival. However, it may not be as capable as the Suzuki.
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You see, whereas the Jimny is based on a ladder frame, the Taft off-roader won’t be as it was first conceived as a road car and may be adapted to an off-roader, whereas the Jimny was designed from the outset as a go-anywhere vehicle. It uses the Daihatsu New Global Architecture (DNGA).
BestCarWeb reports that the new Daihatsu will have a slightly different design than the road-going Taft. Likely changes will probably include an increased ride height and perhaps more rugged front and rear bumpers.
Very little else is known about the vehicle but Daihatsu does have experience with compact off-roaders. In fact, the first-generation Taft built between 1974 and 1984 was a rugged vehicle much like the Jimny of the time. Its name stood for ‘Tough and Almighty Four-wheel Touring Vehicle’ back then but this was changed to ‘Tough & Almighty Fun Tool’ for the current model. The original was built exclusively as a tour-door and sold in some markets as the Daihatsu Scat and Daihatsu Wildcat. Unfortunately, it appears unlikely that the new-age Taft off-roader will be quite as rugged but it may still be capable of traversing simple trails and shallow water crossings.
