Daihatsu launches new Move

Daihatsu President Koichi Ina stands beside the newly redesigned Move in Tokyo on Monday.
SANKEI

Tuesday 14th December, 03:51 AM JST

TOKYO —

Daihatsu Motor Co. said Monday it has launched the redesigned mini passenger vehicle Move with the highest-level fuel efficiency for a gasoline-powered automobile except hybrid cars in Japan.

Some of the new Move cars are equipped with an idling stop system that automatically stops the engine when the car is stationary, such as when waiting at stoplights, in order to reduce gasoline consumption.

The function helps the cars accomplish fuel economy of 27.0 kilometers per liter, Daihatsu said, meaning that the new Move is more fuel-efficient than Toyota Motor Corp.‘s new Vitz to be on sale later this month, which has achieved fuel efficiency of 26.5 km per liter.

As reasonably priced cars with good gas mileage become more popular, the competition for development of energy-saving automobiles will likely increase down the road among Japanese carmakers, analysts said.

Daihatsu, which fully remodeled the Move for the first time in four years, aims to sell 12,000 units per month in Japan of the mini passenger vehicle priced from 1.12 million yen including consumption tax.