Three-wheeled auto rickshaw (tuk-tuk)
Autorrickshaw de tres ruedas (tuk-tuk)
- Date
- c. 1948-1960 · confidence low
- Place
- Ikeda, Osaka, Japan
- Credited to
- Daihatsu, Piaggio and Bajaj
- Field
- Movement
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A three-wheeled vehicle with a motorcycle engine, a covered cab and a rear passenger seat, used as taxi and for freight in Asia. The Japanese Daihatsu Midget (1957) and the Italian Piaggio Ape (1948) lie at its origin.
Three-wheeled trucks already existed earlier (Mazda-Go, 1931); Bajaj built them under licence from Piaggio from 1959 and the name 'tuk-tuk' has been used in Thailand since the 1960s. Credit for the origin is shared.
What it led to
- cheap motorised taxis in India, Thailand and Southeast Asia
- a local industry of three-wheeled vehicles (Bajaj from 1959)
- gradual replacement of the pulled or cycle rickshaw