Daihatsu unveils the 2020 Taft Concept named after the famous SUV

The Japanese carmaker continues to assign old and respected names to new and mostly unrelated vehicles.

Just as the recently revealed Daihatsu Rocky turned out to be a modest crossover inspired by the no-nonsense body-on-frame SUV from the 1990s, the new Taft is a miniature soft-roader that shares the name with its far more capable predecessor from 1974-1984. The original Taft could boast 4WD, a frame and a reduction gear, whereas the current one has 64 horsepower (48 kilowatts) under the hood.

As a typical Kei car, the 2020 Taft Concept measures only 3,395 mm (11.14 ft.) long, 1,475 mm (4.84 ft.) wide and 1,630 mm (5.35 ft.) tall. It features flattened body panels, plastic fenders, LED headlights, and wheels that try their best at cosplaying beadlock rims.

Inside, there are four passenger seats, a classical (non-digital) dashboard, a shelf and a cup holder for the front passenger, and a gear selector sticking out of the center console. Infotainment system and panoramic roof are listed as options.

The Daihatsu Taft comes based on the same architecture as the new Rocky, called DNGA (Daihatsu New Global Architecture) and essentially representing a downsized version of Toyota’s TNGA.

In accordance with the adopted national standards, the Kei car comes powered by a 0.66-liter, three-cylinder turbo engine that pushes up to 64 hp (48 kW) to the wheels. The show specimen depicted here packs CVE and FWD, but the manufacturer says 4WD will also be available.

The car should be ready for production in the mid-summer of 2020 and likely won’t ever go on sale outside of Japan.