Strip the Daihatsu Cast back to its specification sheet and the character is already there: Petrol engine, 38 kW. Daihatsu built from 2015 to 2023, as electrification stopped being an experiment and the crossover took every market.
The background
The Daihatsu Cast (Japanese: ダイハツ・キャスト, Hepburn: Daihatsu Kyasuto) is a kei car built by the Japanese manufacturer Daihatsu from 2015 to 2023. It comes in three variations designated, "Style", "Activa" and "Sport". Each one can be equipped with either front- or four-wheel drive configuration. The Cast is also sold by Toyota as the Toyota Pixis Joy (Japanese: トヨタ・ピクシスジョイ, Hepburn: Toyota Pikushisu Joi), which was launched on 31 August 2016.
The engineering
Under the skin sits Petrol engine; it is rated at 38 kW; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. Kerb weight is 840 –. Power-to-weight lands near 45 horsepower per tonne, which is leisurely, which for a car of its age and purpose is the point. The gearbox is a CVT. The wheelbase is 2455 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Where it sits
Where it sits in Daihatsu's history is not in doubt: the Daihatsu Terios#J100 / Daihatsu Terios Kid (Cast Activa) / Daihatsu Naked (Cast Activa) / Daihatsu Sonica (Cast Sport) / Toyota Pixis Space (Pixis Joy) came before it; the Daihatsu Taft (LA900) (Cast Activa/Sport) followed it; it was built at Nakatsu, Ōita (Daihatsu Motor Kyushu), Japan. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Renault Kwid, the Honda S660, the Suzuki Hustler. Its Daihatsu stablemates include the Daihatsu Applause and the Daihatsu Atrai.