In this edition of De Vluchtstrook, it is time again for an unusual collaboration between two car manufacturers. Last week, McLaren’s American foray was reviewed, but this week the focus is shifting to the Eastern Hemisphere: Daihatsu and DeTomaso have also worked together for a while.
Sometimes manufacturers come together in a wonderful way. For example, very recently Alpine announced that it was partnering with MV Agusta for an Alpine-inspired motorcycle. And who would have thought the McLaren brand name would appear on a Mercury Capri? The collaboration between the Italian sports car manufacturer DeTomaso and the Japanese Daihatsu definitely belongs in this list. At first glance, it seems that the two manufacturers cannot differ more from each other. Daihatsu, which mainly focused on small, economical cars, compared to the low and wide DeTomaso sports cars, which in many cases had a V8 under the hood. Yet Daihatsu and DeTomaso were by no means strangers to each other.
Innocenti
The history of Innocenti goes back to 1920, but from 1947 the manufacturer started making scooters for the first time. From 1961 to 1976, the brand then built the British Leyland Mini under license, among other things. In that last year, Alejandro de Tomaso, founder of the eponymous brand, acquired Innocenti. After all, British Leyland had gone bankrupt. Under the direction of DeTomaso, Innocenti continued to build the Mini, which from 1974 was equipped with its own, much squarer carriage. The top version of that car was the Mini De Tomaso. Initially Innocenti provided the model with engines from British Leyland, but from 1983 Daihatsu was involved. Daihatsu wanted to expand its sales network in Europe and De Tomaso badly needed the Japanese knowledge of small cars. This created a win-win situation: Daihatsu gained access to the Italian market and could now start supplying its technology on a larger scale in Europe, while Innocenti could start using Daihatsu’s knowledge. Moreover, because British Leyland had gone bust, Innocenti had lost its European distribution network. The partnership with Daihatsu enabled Innocenti to use the Daihatsu dealer network outside of Italy.
The Innocenti Turbo De Tomaso, with Daihatsu genes!
From the moment Daihatsu and Innocenti started working together, the Innocenti Mini received a thorough makeover. The car got the 1.0-liter three-cylinder from the Daihatsu Charade under the hood and the suspension was completely new. Outwardly, the Innocenti designed by Bertone was not changed, but under the skin it was in fact a completely new car. Based on the 1.0-liter three-cylinder from Daihatsu, De Tomaso developed a blown version itself. In the Innocenti Turbo De Tomaso the engine improved with 20 hp and suddenly delivered 72 hp. The sprint to 100 km / h was possible in just 10.8 seconds and if you dared, you could pedal the cake to 165 km / h. Daihatsu then also used that power source adapted by De Tomaso in the Charade De Tomaso. Indeed, the collaboration also went the other way.
Daihatsu in rallying?
It is not entirely coincidental that the second generation of the Charade came onto the market in 1983, the same year as the Italians and Japanese teamed up. That Charade was therefore also released as De Tomaso Turbo for the first time. For Daihatsu, the collaboration with DeTomaso was an excellent opportunity to take a somewhat sportier path. The turbo engine suddenly gave the Charade much more spice: 80 hp in Japan and 68 hp for the European market. In addition to the higher power, the spicy Charade got firmer anti-roll bars and tighter suspension. In addition, it can be recognized by its two-color composition, special Campagnolo wheels and the ‘Charade DeTomaso’ sticker on the sides. For the third and fourth generations of the Charade, the De Tomaso gear was also taken out of the closet. Incidentally, that was not only limited to the Charade: the Valera (Charade Social, the sedan, ed.) Was also available with De Tomaso finery.
The Daihatsu Charade De Tomaso Turbo, available for the first time on the second generation.
But there was more: Daihatsu wanted to move up in rallying. At the 1985 Tokyo Motor Show, Daihatsu pulled the curtain off the Charade 926R, which was even more extreme than the regular rally weapon of the Japanese and had to compete in the famous Group B class. The prototype, of course developed in collaboration with DeTomaso, got a three-cylinder turbo engine behind the front seats and rear-wheel drive. That block suddenly produced 116 hp instead of 80 hp, partly due to the use of a double overhead camshaft, electronic fuel injection and four valves per cylinder. Sadly, the 926R never got into action: in 1986, the FIA ​​pulled the plug on the Group B rally championship, which was over and out for Daihatsu’s rally project.
Ultimately, De Tomaso and Daihatsu worked together until the mid-1990s. In 1993 De Tomaso sold Innocenti to Fiat, with which it exited the small car market. Fiat eventually discontinued the sub-brand in 1997, which also brought the collaboration with Daihatsu to an end. It was quiet around De Tomaso for a while, but nowadays the brand is active again. Daihatsu left the European market in 2013 due to disappointing sales.