Poor Daihatsu. If the Japanese minicar specialist ever decides to bring a road-legal vehicle to the United States, it’s going to be screwed. Daihatsu has long produced efficient microcars for the Japanese K-car (kei jidosha) market, and on Asian soil, the marque has a surprisingly large cult following. Stateside, however, the firm’s name doesn’t mean much: The only Daihatsus found in the U.S. are the diminutive trucks often employed by gardeners and groundskeepers for estate work. (Oddly, the last Daihatsu to make a mark here was the humorously dubbed D-Unit pickup. It inexplicably appeared in the racing-oriented video game Gran Turismo 3, gaining notoriety as one of the few vehicles in the title slower than a 1950s Volkswagen Beetle.)
Predictably, however, a lack of American success hasn’t stopped the company from trying to raise the K-car bar. Its latest effort, the e:S concept (the name stands for “eco and smart”), is a three-door, 1500-pound, four-seat hatchback that rides on a microscopic 85.6-inch wheelbase. The e:S is based on Daihatsu’s existing minicar architecture; power comes from a 660-cc, three-cylinder gasoline engine equipped with an exhaust-gas recirculation system and auto-stop idle capability. Thanks to careful engineering and attention to detail, fuel economy in the Japanese 10-15 test cycle is a staggering 71 mpg.
All told, the e:S won’t mean much to Americans, or even to the rest of the non-Japanese world. No matter. Daihatsu’s clever thinking is greatly appreciated in its homeland, and its vehicles serve as a stark reminder that, in the world of transportation, less is often more.