Ikeda City’s Popular Wombats are in the Daihatsu Plant!?

Ikeda City in Osaka Prefecture and Daihatsu have had a long relationship since the Head (Ikeda) Plant began operations in 1939.
Daihatsu has advanced and developed with the community.
A really interesting project is underway in connection with Ikeda City, which is very important to Daihatsu Motor!
Iwamoto of the Inner Communication Group visited the plant to gather information.

Visiting the Plant!

By the way, the narration is by the Inner Communication Group’s Uegaito.
Well done (laughs).

In the First Place, why Wombats!?

Ikeda City has chosen wombats as the city’s mascot and is promoting community development based on the concept of “Ikeda, a city where people live with wombats”.

Wombats are everywhere in Ikeda City!

Did you know!? Wombats are native to Australia and there are only four living in Japan.
Three of them are in Ikeda City’s Satsukiyama Zoo!**

Wain is breaking Guinness World Records as the oldest wombat in captivity!

His stocky figure and round eyes are just too cute. ♡

Now Daihatsu Motor has created a unique item based on this wombat motif.
Team Wombat, which appears in the video, was the catalyst for this.（・●・）

Team Wombat is a team formed by volunteer members of Daihatsu to enliven the local community, and they sometimes appear at local events and festivals (laughs).

Team Wombat wears the Wombat Helmet, a product of Daihatsu’s technology and love.

Team Wombat

These helmets were donated to Ikeda City and have been worn by city officials during inspections.

I’m so happy! They look great on everyone!

* From Mayor Takizawa’s Instagram

So how did this cute Wombat Helmet come about?

Let’s go ahead and ask the people involved in the production.

** As of August 2025. Ikeda Satsukiyama Zoo is currently closed until around 2027 for renovations.

I Learned the Story Behind the Creation of the Wombat Helmet!

It was designed by an employee!

The cute design was conceived by Ren Kyomoto, who was in charge of things such as masking for COPEN parts!

I had no idea there was such a talented person in our company!

Mr. Kyomoto, please tell us how you felt when you were put in charge of the design.

(Mr. Kyomoto) I have always loved design, and it all started when I casually entered a wombat character design competition within the section. Before the helmet, I also designed a wombat COPEN! At first, I honestly thought, “Are you really going to do this?” (laughs) But now I am very happy to have been involved in such an interesting project.

(Mr. Kyomoto) During the design process, I did a lot of research on wombats. And with the aim of making children smile, I gradually improved the design to the current form.

The wombat COPEN is cute too. ♡

I understand that the face stickers are applied by hand. Do they ever slip?

(Mr. Kyomoto) It’s not a problem because the masking technique for the COPEN parts can be used. We created a mold and devised a way to make this cute face no matter who is doing the work.

* Mr. Kyomoto left Daihatsu in August 2025 to take on new challenges in the design field. We sincerely wish him all the best in his future work.

We want to show the high level of our technical skills

Next are Masami Tsujii and Shinya Miyagawa, who manage the entire process from preparation to production.

The Ikeda Assembly and Painting Team has day and night shifts and the groups are separated, so I spoke with representatives.

What does this Wombat Helmet project mean to everyone?

(Mr. Tsujii) Now that automation has advanced, we feel this is a perfect opportunity to demonstrate our hand-painting skills. I hope it will motivate everyone at Ikeda Assembly and Painting.

(Mr. Miyagawa) I am familiar with wombats because Ikeda is my hometown. So I was very happy to be able to work on this Wombat Helmet project with the whole plant. If I can bring even a few more smiles to people’s faces, I am glad to have done this.

Passing on know-how

Lastly, there is Tatsuro Yamamoto, who examined how to actually paint this Wombat Helmet. Mr. Yamamoto, please tell me what you focused on.

Mr. Yamamoto! The helmets are so shiny!✨

(Mr. Yamamoto) Yes, it’s because we use the same paint and painting techniques as the volume production COPEN. We apply a base coat, intermediate coat, and top coat, and also a clear coat after applying the wombat face sticker.

Is it easy to paint a helmet?

(Mr. Yamamoto) It was very hard (gives a wry smile). Depending on the material of the helmet, the paint may peel off or bubbles might form in the grooves... Unlike painting COPEN parts, the shape is round so it needs a lot of skill. Some of the youngsters say it makes them more nervous than painting a volume production COPEN.

(Mr. Yamamoto) After making many prototypes with Mr. Kyomoto, who was in charge of design and production, when our normal work was done, we finally completed the product.

I heard you had a lot of difficulties… Do you have any special ways for maintaining quality?

(Mr. Yamamoto) Since I myself have almost 20 years’ experience of repair work*, I shared my polishing and painting know-how freely with the painting staff. I’m confident that the quality of the paintwork is the same as that of the COPEN that Daihatsu is so proud of.

* (Vehicle) repair… Carrying out vehicle repair and maintenance and repairing exteriors to improve performance and appearance.

It’s typical of Daihatsu to focus not only on a cute appearance but also on the quality of the product!

Thank you all so much!

Among those of you reading this article, there are no doubt some who are thinking
“I want a Wombat Helmet too!” (laughs)

At this point, they’re not commercially available...

You Can Get One by Paying Hometown Tax to Ikeda City

The Daihatsu Plant Tour is now available as Ikeda City’s hometown tax return gift.
As a souvenir of the tour, you can get a Wombat Helmet!

The tour is said to be full of attractions, including a close-up look at production of the COPEN and a look at past generations of cars (including classic cars) that are not normally open to the public.

It would be perfect if you wore your Wombat Helmet afterwards on a visit to Ikeda Satsukiyama Zoo. ♪

Daihatsu will do it’s best to boost Ikeda City!

In Conclusion

“With this Wombat Helmet project, everyone in the painting shop is now on One Team!”
Someone told me this with a smile during a visit.

The shop’s united efforts and the commitment of its engineers are shown in each and every step of the process.

The Wombat Helmets that flowed between the COPEN parts were even more adorable. ♡

We are looking forward to the continuation of this interesting project with great enthusiasm.