Currently, Suzuki, Daihatsu and Honda are developing their own mini trucks, but Japanese cars are also sold under eight brands excluding Lexus, including OEMs supplied to other cars.
The number one mini truck is Hijet truck
Daihatsu’s Hijet truck is the number one seller of light flourished trucks. It is a truly orthodox light truck with a noseless body and an engine mounted vertically under the seat.
There are plenty of colors and bright body colors such as orange and pink are also available in addition to the classic white and silver.
It is targeted at women engaged in agriculture. Agriculture girls’ packs with UV-cut glass etc. are set to prevent sunburn while riding.
In addition, the lineup of “Jumbo”, which solves one of the few difficulties of light trucks, that is, poor habitability, will be available from 1983. It’s a pioneer of the big light truck.
In terms of functionality, it has a high performance autonomous automatic brake called SAIIIt that uses a stereo camera composed of two cameras like the human eye, such as a single light truck and also supports pedestrians.
There are various types of tricks, such as setting the Eco-Pack to improve fuel efficiency when driving with small loads by adding a sub-speed to the 2WD, and setting the Strong Rust Prevention Pack that is designed for the coastal area or with strong rust prevention.
The second place is Carry
It is almost the same as the Hijet Truck, and has a dual role in the light truck industry.
For the first time, the previous model only had a long wheelbase with the tire in front, but a short wheelbase version with the tire under the seat has been added.
When the tire is under the seat, in addition to the small turning itself, even if the front bumper is out of the road and in the air, there is an advantage that the timing of turning the steering wheel until just before the tire falls off the road can be delayed.
This area is a user-friendly response like Suzuki.
A recent topic was the addition of a super carry with a cabin like hijet truck jumbo, but the carry has a more office-like impression than the hijet.
The safety equipment only has a function to suppress false start before and after using a sonar that is hard to say as an autonomous automatic brake.
It lacks product power overall and is inferior to Hijet trucks in sales volume.
NSX on the farm road !! Third is Acty Truck
Honda’s light trucks have a midship structure where the engine transmission of a front-engine, front-wheel-drive vehicle is traditionally located at the center of the car.
One of the major advantages of using midships is the height of traction represented by the ability to climb uphill.
As you can see from the appearance of the Acty Truck, there is no kind of autonomous automatic braking, and the engine is two generations ago when it is used for Honda mini vehicles.The age of each part cannot be denied. .
However, it also adopts a midship structure, and the only advantage of driving like a beat is the advantage over Hijet and Carry.
Nissan and Subaru ranked 4th and 5th in OEM corps
Nissan does not produce mini vehicles, including passenger cars, but also sells mini trucks from Suzuki under the name NT100 Clipper.
The grade system is almost the same as Carry except that there is no equivalent of Super Carry and AGS which automated MT.
Clipper NT100 that will be Carry’s OEM. Keeping the top in OEM cars while being modest
The ability to sell more than 10,000 OEM vehicles last year is probably the potential strength of Nissan’s sales force.
Subaru has long been developing and producing mini vehicles, including mini trucks and 1-box sambas, but unfortunately withdrew from mini vehicles.
Toyota Group Daihatsu has supplied OEM equipment, and the mini truck sells Hijet trucks as Sambar trucks.
The Sambar truck has a narrower range of options than the Hijet truck, but it also has a grand cab equivalent to the Jumbo of the Hijet truck.
Basically, it has a grade system similar to Hijet Truck, including autonomous automatic braking. Agricultural specifications and tougher, more practical specifications, which were the driving force behind Sambar’s in-house development and production era, are also alive.
