Daihatsu Mira 6th generation (L250/260)

Mira owners had been in their 30s up to the third generation, but they had aged along with the car, and by the fifth generation they were in their early 40s. In planning the sixth generation, chief engineer Fukuzuka, concerned about this aging, carried out market research targeting young women. What he found was that to women, it did not matter whether the license plate was yellow or white. Sixty percent thought the Nissan March was a kei car, and 30 percent did not think the Move was a kei car. So the sixth generation was developed with domestic and imported compact cars, not kei cars, as benchmarks.

Only one grade of the sixth generation carried the newly developed direct-injection engine, because production of the engine itself could not yet be said to be on track. To draw out its fuel economy, they would ideally have paired it with a CVT, but "because the finished car would end up at an outrageous price" (Fukuzuka), they passed on it this time.

The sixth generation made the rear seat roomy within the confines of a kei car and cut the trunk accordingly. According to chief engineer Fukuzuka, Mira users hardly use the luggage space and put everyday shopping bags and hand luggage on the passenger seat or rear seat. The rear seat had no sliding mechanism either, "because it isn't needed." People who want to carry luggage can choose the Move, and "the Mira is more of a car for personal use," he says.