You don’t have to look far to find the inspiration for the Materia’s angular and upright styling, the bluff face and horizontal roofline referencing the design theme pioneered by the Nissan Cube and more recently the Dodge Nitro. In the UK these cars are still rare, but the style is popular in Japan and the US, so Daihatsu’s logic is clear.
How well the concept translates to a car with the Materia’s small dimensions is a matter of personal opinion, but from our experience the Materia certainly gets you noticed. For our money the rear is the least successful element, in particular the intersection of the lights, wheel arches and boot line introducing an awkward curve into the Materia’s straight lines.
Underneath its street-tough, boxy exterior the Materia’s origins are much more humble, the platform an extended version of that used for Daihatsu’s Sirion, which in turn is based on the Toyota Yaris (Toyota holds a 51 per cent stake in Daihatsu).
In truth, a great deal of the Materia is familiar technology. The 1.5-litre, four-cylinder petrol is the same as that of the Terios soft-roader and is in essence an enlarged version of the 1.3 from the Sirion.
There’s a choice of the standard five-speed manual or optional four-speed automatic gearboxes. The suspension and brakes are equally conventional, with MacPherson struts and ventilated discs up front and a predictably economical torsion beam and drum set-up at the rear.
For European markets Daihatsu has tweaked the Materia’s settings and added a front anti-roll bar – in essence stiffening the suspension to reduce body roll.