Daihatsu Applause

The Daihatsu Applause is a compact car in the C segment in Europe, made by the Japanese automaker Daihatsu for British and Australian markets from 1989 to 2000. It is best known for its unusual body style, which looks like a four-door notchback sedan but is in fact a five-door liftback. When it replaced the long-running Charmant, the company wanted to capitalise on the preference for sedans while offering the flexibility of a liftback. The Applause was presented at the 1989 Geneva Motor Show in production-ready concept form as the MS-X90. Daihatsu introduced a platform that was not shared with an existing Toyota platform, which the Charmant had used. In spring 1991 it showed a cabrio prototype, the Applause Windward, which never entered production.