JAPAN TODAY


 

TOKYO — Daihatsu Motor Co Ltd has released the Move Canbus light car. It is targeted at single women aged around 30 and is the first light car equipped with the AFS (Adaptive Front-Light System), which changes the direction of the headlights in accordance with steering operations. It comes with two (right and left) sliding doors as in the case of the Tanto.
The price of the Move Canbus starts from 1,188,000 yen. Daihatsu aims to sell 5,000 units per month.

When planning the development of the vehicle, Daihatsu focused on the behaviors of women, who account for a large portion of the light car market. Especially, the company aims to change the lifestyle of single women who are around 30 years old and enjoying their life.

Moreover, the number of people living with their parents is increasing, and, as a result, cars are more frequently shared among family members. While targeting at women around 30 years old, Daihatsu aimed to develop a car that can be easily used by people of many generations.

Daihatsu has been focusing on selling cars targeted at men such as Wake and Cast. For women, it developed the Conte and Cocoa, but they were released in 2008 and 2009, respectively. On the other hand, Suzuki Motor Corp launched the third-generation Alto Lapin for women in June 2015 (See related article). Daihatsu aims to regain a share of the market for women’s cars with the release of the Move Canbus.

The Move Canbus measures 3,395 (L) x 1,475 (W) x 1,655mm (H) and is 25mm higher than “Move” and 95mm lower than the Tanto. The wheelbase of the Move Canbus is 2,455mm, which is the same as those of the Move and Tanto. The maximum length of its luggage space (when the rear seats are moved forward) is 580mm, which is longer than those of the Move’s and Tanto’s luggage spaces.

For the power train of the Move Canbus, a 660cc water-cooled in-line three-cylinder engine was employed. The vehicle is expected to be driven in urban areas by women, and, therefore, only a naturally-aspirated (NA) engine is available for it. As a transmission, it comes with a CVT (continuously variable transmission). The maximum output and maximum torque of the vehicle are 38kW and 60N·m, respectively, which are the same as those of the Move and Tanto.