Ohta PK History

The PK was the last significant new model from Ōhta Jidōsha Kōgyō, introduced in 1955 with a 903 cc E9 four-cylinder engine, independent torsion-bar front suspension, and a synchronised four-speed gearbox — more sophisticated underpinnings than the ageing PA series. A further development, the PK3 prototype, was displayed at the 1956 Tokyo Motor Show as Ohta's vision for the future.

The future never arrived. By 1954 — the year before the PK launched — Ohta's entire annual sales had fallen to just 86 vans and trucks and 29 passenger cars, a tiny output against a Japanese market now dominated by Toyota, Nissan, and an incoming wave of Kei cars. The only customers still interested in Ohta were taxi companies, drawn by the cars' low price and ruggedness.

In April 1957 Nihon Nainenki Seizō K.K. — which sold commercial vehicles under the Kurogane brand — acquired Ohta and immediately discontinued the passenger-car range, retaining only the VM and VL small vans. Many Ohta engineers, including Yoshio Nakamura, moved to Honda rather than remain under the new owners. The Ōmori factory eventually passed to Nissan's control.