2006 Daihatsu Copen L880K

The Daihatsu Copen. Never heard of it? No surprise. You’re unlikely to find one of these parked at your local home improvement store.

The Copen L880 was introduced in 2002 as part of the Kei Sports Car competition between Honda, Mazda, Suzuki and Daihatsu. Kei cars are a special class of car built for the Japanese market. Kei cars are limited to engines of 660cc and 65 horsepower. In exchange they enjoy lower registration fees and insurance rates. Typically Kei cars are boxy people movers but in the 1990s – 2000s the previously mentioned manufacturers created sports cars built to the Kei specification.

The Daihatsu Copen is FWD powered by a turbocharged inline 4. Through the years it went through several variations of special and limited release versions. Daihatsu stopped manufacturing the Copen L880 in 2012 making it the longest running production of the Kei sports car era. In 2014 Daihatsu released a completely new version, the LA400, which was also sold outside the Japan market with larger engines.

The kit is Aoshima Sports Car Series #19. Typical of Aoshima kits it is beautifully executed with a variety of build options. Left and right-hand drive versions as well as top-up or top-down configurations. There are alternative wheels, grills, seats and even the option to install a conventional radio or a navigation system in the dash.

The Daihatsu Copen will now join my collection along side of the other Kei sports cars, The Mazda Autozam, Honda Beat and Suzuki Cappuccino.

12 additional images. Click to enlarge.