The Daihatsu Naked has a fully exposed B-pillar, the thickness of which contributes to crashworthiness.
The Naked accommodates four people and their luggage.
|
Hiroshi Hoshijima is one of Japan's veteran and most knowledgeable automotive writers. A lightbulb lit up in his fertile head several years ago: "Why should the B-pillars of a four-door car be hidden behind the doors? It could be pushed outward to the outer extreme and exposed on the side of the vehicle, creating more room inside and adding more metal and strength to the structure—which should be especially beneficial in a small or mini car in space utilization and against side impact." He continued, "And why should the front door's lower rear opening cut straight down? It only covers a part of the seat, otherwise serving no useful purpose. Cut it at an angle, still leaving an ample opening to allow your feet to enter and exit, and as a bonus, it will give yet more metal to the B-pillar's lower section."
Hoshijima preached his exposed B-pillar, diagonally cut door opening concept to product planners, designers, engineers, and fellow automotive writers. All listened politely, but few took it seriously, except for the people at the Osaka-based small and mini car specialist Daihatsu. They embraced the concept as valid and refreshing, interpreted it in their own way, and applied it to their 1995 Tokyo Motor Show concept vehicle, a kei (light in Japanese) car appropriately named Naked. It had thick, exposed B-pillars and interchangeable front and rear doors. The vehicle enjoyed an extremely positive reception at the show.
Since then, the light segment vehicle has been given new dimensions, literally, in overall length and width, so that it is subject to the same frontal and side impact test criteria as the ordinary size vehicle classification. The new limits now specify overall length less than 3400 mm (134 in) and width less than 1480 mm (58 in).
Daihatsu adapted the Naked concept to a new-dimension mini model. The production Naked adopts rugged looks with its compact all-steel unitary body featuring bolt-on bumpers and fender flares. The front and rear doors are of the same stamping, and attached on exposed hinges, which allow them to open at a right angle and facilitate removal of the detachable individual rear seats.
Mechanically, the Naked is based on the Mira front-wheel-drive light-car underpinnings and shares its powertrain. Two versions of the EF DOHC, four-valves-per-cylinder, 0.66-L inline three-cylinder engine are offered. The VE version is a naturally aspirated engine employing the VVT-i continuously variable intake valve system and producing 43 kW (58 hp) at 7600 rpm and 64 N•m (47 lb•ft) at 4000 rpm. The DET is a turbocharged unit, sans VVT-i, rated at 48 kW (64 hp) at 107 N•m (79 lb•ft) at 3600 rpm.
A five-speed manual transmission and four-speed automatic are offered, in front- and all-wheel-speed specifications. The latter uses a viscous coupling unit attached to the front of the final drive for torque transfer and split. Front suspension is by ubiquitous MacPherson struts. The front-wheel-drive model features a twist-beam/trailing arm rear suspension, while the AWD is fitted with a live axle supported by a pair of trailing arms and a Panhard rod. Footwear for the naturally aspirated series is 165/65R13 and 165/55R14 for the Turbo.
Jack Yamaguchi
AEI May 2000
