Daihatsu

Daihatsu Australia was initially established in 1975 as a joint-venture between the then Thiess Toyota and the NSW state distributor York Toyota, shipping company Nichimen and Daihatsu Motor Co Ltd.

Daihatsu trucks were introduced into Australia in the early 1970s by Gosson Industries. The first models sold were the DVs, in tipper and cab-chassis versions.

The Daihatsu Australia partnership was formed in 1975 between Thiess Toyota, the NSW state distributor York Toyota, shipping company Nichimen and Daihatsu Motor Co Ltd, to handle the distributorship of Daihatsu vehicles in Australia.

Toyota became interested in the truck business in the mid-1960s and took over Hino Motors in 1966. In the following year, Toyoya invested in Daihatsu. In 1998 Toyota acquired 51 per cent of Daihatsu and in the year 2000 Toyota Australia took over distribution of Daihatsu motor vehicles in Australia.

Daihatsu withdrew from the Australian market in March 2006

Truck range

From the early 1970s a large Daihatsu model range was offered including Tipper, Mixer, Garbage Compactor, Three-Way Tipper, Tray Top and Panel Van versions.

During the 1970s models included: SV16 up to 1973 with the FA 1500cc petrol engine; SV17 with the 12R 1600cc petrol engine; DV21 up to 1973 with the FB 1900cc petrol engine; DV23 with the 2000cc 5R Petrol engine; DV26 with the 2500cc DG Diesel engine and DV28 with the 3000cc B diesel engine.

In 1979 Daihatsu released a completely revamped range, the Delta series. Models included: V30 with the 5R 2000cc petrol engine; V20 with the DG 2500cc diesel engine; V10 with the B 3000cc diesel engine; V54 with the DL 2800cc diesel engine and V90 with the B 3999cc diesel engine.

Daihatsu’s next model change came in 1985. Models were: V57 with the DL 2800cc diesel engine; V68 with the 3Y 2000cc petrol engine; V48 with the 3B 3500cc diesel engine; V98 with the B 3000cc diesel engine and V99 with the B 3000cc diesel engine.

And from 1987, the models were: V58 with the DL 2800cc diesel engine; V68 with the 3Y 2000cc petrol engine; V78 with the 13B 3500cc diesel engine; V107 with the 4Y 2200cc petrol engine; V108 with the 4Y 2200cc petrol engine and V118 with the 13B 3500cc diesel engine.

In 2004 Daihatsu’s last model in Australia was the V138 with the 1KD FTV 3000cc diesel engine and this truck was available only as a tipper with either a wide or narrow cab.

One of Daihatsu’s early directors, John Conomos, went on to become head of Toyota Australia and a member of the Toyota Board in Japan.

Daihatsu took full advantage of regulations that enabled it to import light trucks with purpose-built fully built-up bodies – most notably tippers with top- and bottom-hinged tailgates and bottom-hinged drop sides, allowing them to function as drop-side flat tops when required.

The imports encouraged a more innovative local body-building industry.

Daihatsu was also responsible for introducing light four-wheel drives to Australia, a trend that expanded into the ‘soft-roader’, SUV segment.

Daihatsu’s best year was in 1995, when it sold 7800 vehicles.

In 2005, with the brand’s market share at less than one-percent, Toyota announced the end of Daihatsu brand distribution, to take effect in early 2006.

When  Daihatsu distribution Down Under ended there were about 145,000 Daihatsu cars and trucks on Australian roads.

The Delta Tipper

By far the most significant model in the Daihatsu Australia line-up was the Delta truck and the stand-out Delta models were factory-built tipper variants. Tradies and councils loved ‘em.

From the early 1970s models until the 2000s Daihatsu trucks shared cabs with the Toyota Dyna range, but when the Dyna adopted a tilt-cab in the 1990s, Daihatsu was ‘kept in its place’ by having to make do with a fixed cab. Thankfully, the reliability of Toyota and Daihatsu engines meant that easy access to the mechanicals wasn’t a major selling point.

After a diet of poorly-made US and British light trucks in the 1960s and 1970s, Australian operators found the Japanese products a breath of fresh air. They were strong, boringly reliable and had proper warranties.

Wide-cab models could seat three in relative comfort and the centre seat folded down into a desk-top with document storage. Later models had a car-style radio and a cassette player.

The Delta tipper models, in particular, were ‘bullet-proof’. These purpose-designed little trucks had box-section frames, with deep webs in the high-stress, back of cab area. That base, combined with axles and springs designed to handle at least twice the Delta’s rated payload meant that they were literally unbreakable. Forget Toyota’s ‘Unbreakable HiLux’ marketing hype: the Delta was the real thing.

The downsides were asthmatic petrol and diesel engines that were primarily designed for Japan and South East Asia. They couldn’t deliver highway speeds in hilly country and it was often joked that at the head of every traffic ‘convoy’ there’d be a Daihatsu tipper!

Nevertheless, their reliability and overload capacity made up for lack of race pace. Although GVMs ranged from 3750kg (single rear wheels) to 6000kg with duals, many were loaded way beyond those figures for all their working lives.

The Delta’s heyday came with the 1980s cab that persisted, with some cosmetic changes, until the early 2000s. ‘If it ain’t broke, why fix it?’

Models with Toyota 14B 3.7-litre diesel (71kW and 247Nm) even had a butterfly exhaust brake and, if purchased with the optional higher-GVM rating, a ‘big truck’ vertical exhaust!

The tipping mechanism was simplicity itself: the cab lever actuated the hydraulics and the transmission clutch controlled tipper height. Spreading fast-flowing loads like blue metal without a height control valve took some practice, but blokes and sheilas got used to it.

The Daihatsu Delta may lack the romance and ‘personaility’ assigned to vintage British and American trucks, but was a pivotal machine in the 1970s-1990s and deserves recognition.

Check out our Working Vehicles report on a 1970s Delta, still working in 2025.