Daihatsu Design Center - Ikeda

Mini truck Midget, neither two-wheeler nor four-wheeler, but three-wheeler

In Japan after WWII, three-wheeled vehicles spread rapidly. In response to requests from users, manufacturers launched a wider variety of, and larger-sized, three-wheeled vehicles onto the market. As a result, three-wheeled vehicles became similar to small four-wheeled vehicles in performance and price, while losing their distinctive features. Meanwhile, domestically produced two-wheelers mainly for freight use came onto the market, but their disadvantage lay in their limited loading capacities. Targeting the potential niche between the three-wheeler and two-wheeler markets, Daihatsu released the mini three-wheeled truck the Midget in 1957.

Under the concept of “easy-to-handle, economical vehicles that can easily make tight turns,” Daihatsu started developing mini three-wheeled trucks on a full scale in 1953, and completed the first prototype with an engine and body specially designed for it at the end of 1954. At the same time, the company conducted marketing research mainly on two-wheeler users, analyzing their dissatisfaction with two-wheelers and small three-wheeled vehicles. In 1956, the company set about the final design by incorporating the results of the marketing research, and eventually launched the Midget onto the market. The first model of the Midget, the Model DKA, had a 249 cc engine, a loading capacity of 300 kg, and a handlebar, and although the monthly output target for the model was originally 500 units, its actual monthly output in August 1958, the year after its release, reached about 800 units.

From 1959 onward, Daihatsu made improvements to the model, introducing a two-seater cabin and a driving wheel, and expanding the loading capacity. As a result, the model became a massive hit opening up the new frontier market for mini three-wheeled trucks. In September 1960, the total number of registered vehicles of this model exceeded 100,000 in the aggregate, and the number of vehicles of this model newly registered in the same year amounted to 86,000. The company also began to export the model to Southeast Asian countries, such as Thailand, in 1959.

The factors behind the popularity of the Midget included its remarkable mobility, low price, and simple nature as a vehicle requiring only a mini-car driver’s license, and the immense help of commercials on TV, which were rapidly spreading at that time. A humorous commercial, featuring the popular comedians Kon Omura and Juro Sasa, was broadcast from 1958, disseminating the name of the Midget around the country in a flash. The company also made steady sales promotion efforts, such as sales training programs, which aimed to fully share knowledge about the product with the sales staff, and the publication of the Midget Photo News, resulting in remarkable achievements.

To prepare for the release of the Midget, in 1957 Daihatsu established a Mini Three-wheeled Vehicle Sales Section, which drew up contracts with dealers, sales manuals, and other documents. In an age when importance was often placed on personal relationships of trust with dealers, rather than contracts with them, this approach taken by Daihatsu marked a watershed in the modernization of sales and marketing systems, including after-sales service.