The Daihatsu Consorte is a small sedan sold by the

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese automaker

Daihatsu is a Japanese automobile manufacturer headquartered in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. One of the oldest surviving Japanese internal combustion engine manufacturers, the company was known for building three-wheeled vehicles and off-road vehicle ...

from 1969 to 1977. It was based on the

Toyota Publica The is a small car manufactured by the Japanese company Toyota from 1961 until 1978. Conceived as a family car to fulfill the requirements of the Japanese Government's "national car concept", it was the smallest Toyota car during that period a ...

, and its name, meaning ''"

consort __NOTOC__ Consort may refer to: Music * "The Consort" (Rufus Wainwright song), from the 2000 album ''Poses'' * Consort of instruments, term for instrumental ensembles * Consort song (musical), a characteristic English song form, late 16th–earl ...

"'' in Italian, reflected Daihatsu's newly established affiliation with

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

while also continuing the theme started with the preceding Compagno ("companion"). It replaced the Compagno as Daihatsu's passenger vehicle. The Consorte was derived from Toyota's Publica and was sold at a newly established Japanese dealership network intended to exclusively sell the Publica. This was called '' Toyota Publica Store'' until 1966 when it was renamed '' Toyota Corolla Store'' to sell the all-new

Toyota Corolla The is a series of compact cars (formerly Subcompact car, subcompact) manufactured and marketed globally by the Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corporation. Introduced in 1966, the Corolla was the best-selling car worldwide by 1974 and has bee ...

. This arrangement allowed Toyota to sell the Publica at recently acquired Daihatsu dealerships, giving Daihatsu a car larger than kei class cars. The Consorte used a Daihatsu developed engine, while the Publica used a two-cylinder, air-cooled, flat-2 '' U'' engine. Initially, the Consorte was available only as a two-door sedan and with Daihatsu's own 1.0-litre ''FE'' engine. In June 1971, Publica's ''3K'' 1.2-litre engine was added to the range, both engines only available with 4-speed manual transmission. Facelift model appeared in January 1972. In May 1973, 5-speed manual and 2-speed automatic transmissions added to the line up for 1.2-litre models only, two-door coupe version also added to the lineup. Followed by four-door sedan version in October 1973, but only sold until November 1974, with the launch of the Daihatsu Charmant. The 2-door sedan and coupe were superseded in 1977 (in February for 1.0-litre models and November for 1.2-litre models) by the

Daihatsu Charade The Daihatsu Charade is a supermini car produced by the Japanese manufacturer Daihatsu from 1977 to 2000. It is considered by Daihatsu as a "large compact" or "supermini" car, to differentiate it from the smaller ''kei car'' compacts in its line ...

References

*Auto Modelle Katalog 1970/71, Vereinigte Motor Verlage Stuttgart (''Technical Data for 1970/1971 Daihatsu Consorte 1100 2-door'') {{Daihatsu timeline pre-1980 Consorte Subcompact cars Rear-wheel-drive vehicles Cars introduced in 1969 Cars discontinued in 1977