Daihatsu Trek

The Tokyo Motor Show has always been a magnet for ideas that would look wildly out of place at most European exhibitions, and Daihatsu has long been one of the most enthusiastic contributors to that sense of controlled madness.

In 1985, the company arrived in Tokyo with no fewer than 32 concept cars under the slogan “Small vehicles with a big dream.”

One of the most memorable among them was Daihatsu Trek — a single-seat machine with chunky proportions and generous ground clearance.

On the surface, the Trek looked like a pint-sized off-roader or a quad-bike with a roof. In reality, it was something far stranger.

The seat and steering column could fold away entirely, transforming the interior into a flat sleeping surface. To complete the transformation, a pop-up tent emerged, turning the vehicle into a one-person campsite, complete with protection from insects.

Why the Trek never progressed beyond the concept stage remains a mystery. One can only imagine that even the most open-minded focus groups struggled with the idea of commuting in something that felt a little too much like a life-sized transformer.