Daihatsu Copen roadster reborn as Kopen concept

We’ve not heard much about Daihatsu in the recent past. There’s the Sirion, there’s the Terios and that’s pretty much it. However, things are going to be spiced up a bit, as they are all set to make a sporting comeback with the new Kopen, shown at the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show this week.

Now, for those of you who weren’t aware, Daihatsu does have a decent sporting past, with the P3 and P5 racecars. Alongside all that, they also had the ‘kei’-sized Copen roadster which ran on a 660cc engine in Japan and on a 1.3-litre inline-4 engine for European markets. But the “Hello Kitty” look-alike roadster was discontinued last year.

Various concepts had flowed in since 2007, but no replacement was confirmed. Still, the new Kopen seems worthy enough with its small body to meet Japan’s kei-car regulations. The engine will be 660cc forced-induction 3-cylinder unit and mated to a CVT apparently. The roadster will be just 3400 mm in length.

But from the images we learn that Daihatsu is offering a variety of colour choices to customers. It’s also interesting that there are a few changes in body styles which hint at different variants.

It’s unknown why Daihatsu is replacing the ‘C’ of Copen to a ‘K’. And we’re also not sure if it will make it to the GCC market.