One of many tastiest forbidden fruits has all the time been the Daihatsu Copen, a pint-sized enjoyable automotive you may nonetheless purchase in Japan. The second-generation mannequin went on sale again in 2014 and has spawned a number of variations, together with a fixed-roof coupe derivate, a GR Sport, and a retro-flavored Cero. This Imaginative and prescient idea heading to the 2023 Japan Mobility Present later this month may be a Copen with a well-recognized design nevertheless it’s a considerably totally different automotive.
For starters, it is manner bigger than the namesake manufacturing mannequin. The common Copen is a kei automotive, so it should abide by sure dimension restrictions. Whereas the usual mannequin is simply 133.7 inches lengthy and 58.1 inches extensive, the Imaginative and prescient stretches 151 inches lengthy and 66.7 inches extensive. The conceptual automobile is barely decrease (49.8 inches vs. 50.4 inches) and has a for much longer wheelbase of 95 inches in comparison with the kei automotive’s 87.8-inch distance between the axles.
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The Copen has blossomed to turn out to be practically as large as a Mazda Miata. Very similar to the MX-5 – which was up to date in Japan this week with an ND3 model – it adopts a rear-wheel-drive format. As a refresher, the kei automotive routes energy to the entrance wheels. Talking of which, the Imaginative and prescient is presumably much more potent because it eschews the turbocharged 0.6-liter, three-cylinder engine in favor of an even bigger 1.3-liter unit. Since displacement has greater than doubled, certainly the output has elevated effectively past the kei automotive’s 63 hp and 68 lb-ft.
Moderately disappointingly, the Imaginative and prescient Copen seems to have an computerized transmission as a substitute of the handbook gearbox supplied for the usual mannequin, which may also be had with a CVT. In response to the press launch, Daihatsu says the interior combustion engine has been developed to run on CN gas, which doubtless refers to carbon-neutral gas.
The design makes the Imaginative and prescient Copen immediately acquainted regardless that the automotive is far bigger now. We will not see it with the roof up for now, however Daihatsu says the automobile has been conceived to imitate the Energetic Prime of the first-generation mannequin. It is an electrically retractable hardtop, and the automotive ought to nonetheless supply some practicality with the roof folded given the expansion spurt. Inside, it has a digital instrument cluster, a comparatively small infotainment, capacitive-touch buttons à la Porsche, and door loops.
The Copen is the final from the previous guard of sporty kei vehicles because the Honda Beat’s successor, the S660, was axed in 2022. The Suzuki Cappuccino was discontinued again in 1998. The mid-engined Autozam AZ-1 bowed out in 1994 when the Suzuki equal – dubbed Cara – was additionally dropped.
