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There are few consumer goods as tightly woven into the fabric of our daily existence as the automotive vehicle. The aware and responsible carmaker of today must be at the front of the battle to preserve the quality of our environment and to conserve its natural resources. Automobile manufacturers must also be in step with our quickly changing lifestyles and have diverse solutions for today's cost conscious, independent and sophisticated consumers. Cleaner running, fuel-efficient cars. Cars that give you the sense of safety and control that makes driving them a pleasure. Cars whose low cost maintenance is rarely a problem. Our compact cars settle these issues out of hand.
If recent years have seen maker after maker turn to the compact as a marketing solution, Daihatsu has held this ground for decades. From the beginning, we have believed that the compact was the vehicle best suited for society. From the start we dedicated the totality of our resources to crafting minivehicles. From our early mission statement of "In the coming of compact cars, the fulfillment of a motorized society" to today's slogan: "We make it COMPACT", Daihatsu has sought to lead the way in small car design and fabrication.
At this year's Tokyo Motor Show, we go to the heart of our vision: based on our slogan "We make it COMPACT" to an exhibition theme: "Wonderful Small Vehicles-the future form", we have tried to reveal the minivehicle's rich possibilities across four facets of our day to day lives, Fun, Eco, City & Life, to show you the shape of the small car's future.
Among others, some of the show's prototype car highlights will be the D-BONE, an open-top sporty 4WD vehicle with fun of driving and the UFE-II, a hybrid shooting for ultimate fuel economy, developed to reduce C02 and gas emissions.
D-BONE (Dynamic
[Daihatsu]
- BONE)
You're looking at the kind of full-contact fun that gives trail bikes and dune buggies their power. One with the wind and sun, this small car explosion drives at the edge of extreme sports. The open-air styling of a skeleton body cut with radical touches like bug-lamps and cycle fenders over the wheels. Even on a trip to the store, this car's tough-as-nails originality will set you free.
A rigorous design simplicity of circles and lines is set off by abundant use of metallic surface texture, giving the interior a superbly tooled and bright feel. Highly sand and water-resistant flooring and seat upholstery free you to take this car wherever the fun is. We gave this car all the qualities you can't help but fall in love with!
UFE-II: 60km/l of ultra fuel efficiency.
Long and intense sessions of wind tunnel simulation allowed Daihatsu engineers to peel air drag back below the magic 20 mark to 0.19 *1.
This is a world record *2, but it is also a minivehicle seating four in comfort and ease. The ultra-lightweight body, fashioned in composite with plentiful doses of aluminum highlighting weighs a mere 570kg. The car is further equipped with specially designed narrow tires of large diameter that slash rolling resistance.
*1 2001 UFE Cd = 0.25
*2 as of October 2003
Power train
The UFE-II's hybrid system puts a newly developed Atkinson engine together with two motors. Atkinson's 660cc direct fuel injection petrol engine is an ultra fuel-efficient machine running an extremely clean gas emissions shop. And so it goes for all the line: both the generator and the driving motor are as lightweight and as compact as you can get. And they're meshed with a wickedly intelligent permanent magnet motor. The transmission features planetary gears controlled by CVT (continuously variable transmission) that gets its power from the generator. The batteries are nickel-metal hydride.
Design
The car's futuristic feel is emphasized by an utterly aerodynamic body styling, highlighted by a cut-tail teardrop silhouette, gull-wing doors and sophisticated head and rear lamp design. In the cabin, switches are integrated into a central control unit and steer-by-wire is a standard fixture. A sense of operability and functionality dominates this techno-cockpit.
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