The Daihatsu Tanto is simply an ingenious Kei car for OKU

The Daihatsu Tanto is a tall Kei car that was introduced in 2003 and is currently in its fourth-gen which was launched in 2019. Recently, Daihatsu gave the tallboy hatchback an update which adds on a few features, including welfare vehicle variants under the Friendship series.

Japanese carmakers have often introduced their own welfare vehicles to aid the elderly and the OKU for easier transport. Tall-looking cars like the Tanto fit the bill well as it allows for easier ingress and egress as well as room to put a wheelchair in the back.

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Aside from the sliding doors and roomy appearance, the Tanto also has another trick up its sleeve to allow for those with movement disabilities to enter or exit the vehicle at ease. It is completely pillarless on the passenger side, a design that was introduced on the second-generation Tanto back in 2007.

The Friendship series of disabled-friendly cars are available with three variations – The Tanto Welcome Turn Seat which is equipped with a front passenger seat that rotates, the Tanto Welcome Seat Lift which adds the function to lower the front passenger, and the Tanto Sloper that is equipped with a ramp in the rear.

The Tanto is built on the Daihatsu New Global Architecture (DNGA) platform which is also shared with the Daihatsu Taft. The Tanto is one of the best-selling Kei cars in Japan, placing third behind the Honda N-Box and Suzuki Spacia with 85,371 units sold in the first 8 months of 2021 so far.

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Compared to the Daihatsu Thor that we previously wrote about, the Tanto runs on a smaller engine as it is by definition, a Kei car. Powering the Tanto is a naturally-aspirated or turbocharged 660-cc engine that is paired to a CVT automatic.

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Aside from the updates on the Friendship series of the Tanto, the tallboy Kei car is also equipped with an electric parking brake as opposed to a foot-operated parking brake as well as cornering trace assist which allows the Tanto to remain stable around corners.

Additionally, the updated Tanto also receives adaptive cruise control (ACC) with stop & go for its Smart Assist ADAS suite on top of AEB, lane-keep assist, and automatic parking.

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The Tanto is available with either front- (FWD) or 4-wheel-drive (4WD) on all variants with the exception of the Tanto Sloper which is only available with the former. Prices for the updated Tanto range from JPY 1.24 million to 2.17 million (~RM 47k to 82k).