Hope Jidōsha

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A Hopestar SM , built in 1960

Hope Jidōsha KK ( Japanese ホ ー プ 自動 車 株式会社 , Hōpu jidōsha kabushiki kaisha ; English Hope Motor Company ) is a former Japanese automobile and engine manufacturer with its headquarters in Taitō , Tokyo . The company was founded in April 1952 by Ono Yoshisada . The brand name Hopestar was used for the company's products . A literature source confirms the foundation in 1952 and the brand name Hopestar . The manufacturer existed until April 1974, when the company was eventually transformed into the toy manufacturer KK Hope ( Hope Co., Ltd. ), currently headquartered in the Asao district of Kawasaki , Kanagawa Prefecture , Japan .

history

In its early days, the company was a small workshop that specialized in the repair of automobiles and also built up vehicle development and production. The entry in the commercial register was only made in January 1954 after Ono established its first independently developed model, the Hopestar SM , on the market. This corresponded to the legal requirements for light vehicles that were issued in 1949. Since these regulations had only recently existed, the new manufacturer had to expect a large number of orders. As a competitor there was initially only the Mazda Mazdago of Tōyō Kōgyō KK, followed a few years later by competing models such as Daihatsu Midget and Hino Hustler . Hopestar is therefore often cited in Japan as a pioneer of Japanese auto rickshaw manufacturers. A truck version of the model finally followed in December. Air-cooled engines with a displacement of 360 cm³ and two pistons, which were assembled in the in-house workshop, were used to motorize the vehicles. The manufacturer of these engines was today's Mazda Group. The more powerful version with a displacement of 750 cm³ also came from the motorcycle manufacturer Mazda. Other components such as connecting rods and bearings were obtained from the automobile manufacturer Datsun Jidōsha KK (today Nissan ). A two-stroke single-cylinder engine developed in-house was added at the end of the 1950s, which was the company's most powerful engine from then on. Quality and occupant protection were an important issue for the manufacturer and were constantly being adapted to the legal requirements, mainly caused by the production of new vehicle components by third-party manufacturers, which made minor modifications to the vehicles necessary.

From 1957 there was also an advertising campaign for the new Daihatsu Midget, which brought the company additional customers. The company was also active as an authorized dealer for the Daihatsu group. The Hopestar Unicar NT appeared in 1960. The Hopestar Unicar , produced from 1960 to 1962, was a small station wagon with a two-cylinder engine that developed 17 hp from a displacement of 356 cc . The company made a further development in 1961 with an order from Automotive Teita Huzi . Chassis and two-stroke engines should be built for their newly planned automobiles. These were then finally used from March of the same year in the new Hopestar ST and in the all-wheel-drive Hopestar OT . Huzi, on the other hand, built this into her new Gasden M36 .

In 1962, the next Hopestar OV came onto the market, which was very popular in the capital. The manufacturer's engine production, on the other hand, suffered a huge slump after the enactment of new legal regulations, which reached its lowest point in 1965. Many workers were subsequently laid off. By then, four-wheeled vehicles had also made their breakthrough in Japan, so that Hopestar was slowly being forgotten.

In 1967 they hoped for a new beginning with the new Hopestar ON 4WD . But after a few years of production, the licenses were sold to Suzuki , who developed the Suzuki Jimny LJ10 from them , which replaced the ON in 1970.

In April 1974 the company then gave up automobile production and was incorporated into the parent company. Until then, the older Hopestar models were still being produced.

Model overview

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b George Nicholas Georgano (Ed.): The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile . Volume 2: G-O . Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, ISBN 1-57958-293-1 , pp. 715 (English).