1996 Daihatsu Hijet Mini Truck, Kei Truck - Boeki USA#BUC72839

This is a 1996 Daihatsu Hijet Truck finished in White, one of the Japanese imports we currently have available. Drive on this Hijet Truck is four-wheel drive.

Under the skin of a 1996 Hijet Truck

The engine is recorded as the EF. A 1996 Daihatsu on the EF is running the engine family the company built its kei reputation on. The EF drives through a 5-speed gearbox.

What we have on record for this Hijet Truck

Odometer at listing is 43590; the paperwork gives a Japanese auction grade of 4/B. The source recorded no unit alongside that figure, so 43590 is reproduced exactly as stored rather than converted.

1996 Daihatsu Hijet Truck: the background

The Hijet has been in continuous production since November 1960, which makes it the oldest surviving kei nameplate — and in 2021 it took a Good Design Long Life Design Award, a first for Daihatsu. Daihatsu supplies the Hijet to other makers for rebadging — Toyota since 2011, Subaru since 2012 — and it was licence-built abroad as the Piaggio Porter in Italy and the Asia Towner in Korea. Daihatsu is Toyota's small-vehicle specialist and the Hijet is the product it has spent longest refining — sixty-plus years of iteration on a single idea, and it shows in how resolved the details are.

Practicalities of this Hijet Truck

Farms, vineyards, ranches, grounds crews and building sites are where Hijet Trucks end up in the US, for the same reasons they ended up there in Japan — Japanese sources describe the kei truck as a necessity for moving tools, crops and catch. We imported this 1996 Hijet Truck ourselves and sell it directly — there is no Daihatsu franchise between you and the vehicle. It is listed at $5,700.