Monday, January 3, 2011

A Daihatsu delivery vehicle in ... Winona, MN?

Daihatsu Atrai - Subcompact Culture
You can run into Kei cars in the most unlikely of places in the U.S. Case in point, this Daihatsu Atrai (aka "Hijet"), which is a rural delivery vehicle for Winona County in southwest Minnesota. How cool, though? I spied this little guy outside of the DMV in Winona.

Daihatsu Atrai - Subcompact Culture

This model features four-wheel drive and a twin-cam, 12-valve, three-cylinder engine.

Daihatsu Atrai - Subcompact Culture
 As you can see, this is a right-hand drive vehicle with a manual transmission.

Daihatsu Atrai - Subcompact Culture
 Yep, it's a tall vehicle. In fact, as I was taking photos, a lady stopped and said, "looks a bit tippy, eh?" Yes, ma'am. Not a corner carver. But, it looked like it had plenty of cargo room.

Daihatsu Atrai - Subcompact Culture
Of all places, I didn't expect to see this thing in Winona. But this show that municipalities/cities are buying imported kei vehicles for service duty. There must be a niche for these in the U.S.! Well, it might be a niche of a niche, but still. I wonder where they get parts and who services this little thing?



Daihatsu Atrai - Subcompact Culture
Daihatsu Atrai - Subcompact Culture

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

love it, and yer blog - keep up the great work!