Daihatsu Motor Co., Ltd. is a Japanese manufacturer of cars, well known for its smaller models. Many of its models are also known as kei jidosha (or kei cars) in Japan.
The name “Daihatsu” is a combination of the first kanji (Japanese character) for Osaka and the first of the word “engine manufacture”; when put together they are pronounced “dai hatsu”.
It was reported on 31 March 2005, that Toyota would exit Daihatsu from the Australian market, after sales fell heavily in 2005, in spite of the overall new-car market in Australia growing 7%. Daihatsu wound up its Australian operations in March 2006 after almost 40 years in the market.