Kei
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The Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric car deserves a place in history. It was arguably the first mass-produced modern electric car put on sale, well before the Nissan Leaf arrived in December 2010. Pre-production i-MiEVs were operating in test fleets in Japan as early as 2007, and it was on sale in that country even as Tesla struggled to get its Roadster into production in late 2009. DON'T MISS: 2016 Mitsubishi i-MiEV: Drive Report Of 62-Mile Electric Minicar This pioneering electric car was adapted from the clever design for the Mitsubishi "i" kei car, designed for Japan's special class of minicar...
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Honda N-Truck Kei Concept: World's Tiniest Travel Trailer, Too Cute For Words
Sometimes there are cars that just make you grin. So how can you not love a tiny Japanese kei car, their minier-than-minicar class, converted into a pickup truck with its own matched travel trailer behind it? DON'T MISS: Japan's Government Clamps Down On Tiny Kei Cars, Fearing Irrelevance Kei cars...
John Voelcker -
Nissan And Mitsubishi To Join Forces On Low-Cost Electric Minicar
Mitsubishi was the earliest maker to launch a modern battery-electric small car and sell it in volume, and Nissan has emerged as by far the world's highest-volume seller of electric cars. Now the two makers have announced they're teaming up to develop an inexpensive electric minicar. According to...
John Voelcker -
Japan's Government Clamps Down On Tiny Kei Cars, Fearing Irrelevance
Japan does small cars like no other country on earth--mainly because they have to. The nation's Kei-jidosha car class was set up to make a class of car that was cheaper to run, easier to own and small enough to ease parking and minimize congestion. Now, reports The New York Times, these distinctive...
Antony Ingram -
2013 Tokyo Motor Show: Green Car Preview
The 2013 Tokyo Motor Show is almost upon us. And while the Los Angeles Auto Show might hold more relevance for the U.S. market, Tokyo's offerings can never be discounted entirely. Weird and wonderful some may seem but many feature the kind of technology we'll soon be seeing in our road cars. And of...
Antony Ingram -
Tiny Kei-Car Engine For Iconic Caterham 7 Sports Car
Putting a tiny engine in a hairy-chested sports car doesn't seem like the perfect recipe for fun, but British sports car companies have always been a little... different. Caterham is one of those companies. Back in 1972, it bought the rights to Colin Chapman's lightweight Lotus Seven sports car...
Antony Ingram -
You don't need us to tell you that the Japanese car market is about as far-removed from the U.S. market as it's possible to get. Where big trucks still dominate in North America, vehicles that almost fit in the average truck's pickup bed make up almost half of all Japanese car sales. Those cars are known as kei cars, or keijidōsha--"light automobiles". Size matters Conforming to a strict set of rules and regulations, Japan's smallest offerings started like their tiny counterparts in Europe, providing inexpensive transport in the post-war era. But as Japan's roads became ever more crowded...
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Japan's Tiny 'Kei' Cars Set For Increasing Electrification
Kei-jidosha, or 'Kei cars' are one of our favorite "forbidden fruits" here at Green Car Reports. Strict tax, insurance and parking regulations in Japan result in vehicles designed to set dimensions and engine sizes. So specific are they to Japanese roads and market conditions, they're rarely sold...
Antony Ingram -
Honda N One: Quick Drive
The retro-styled Honda N One, which goes on sale in Japan this month, is super-cute—nodding to the original 1967 Honda N360—and looks perfect for space-confined urban duty. It's possible at first glance, from a distance, to liken the N One to the Mini Cooper or Fiat 500 and see it...
Bengt Halvorson -
Honda Starts Sales Of N-ONE Retro Minicar
If you subscribe to the theory that Honda keeps all its really cool products in its home market of Japan, the announcement that the N-ONE retro-styled minicar has hit the market probably won’t do much to convince you otherwise. The N-ONE joins the N BOX and N BOX + models in Honda’s...
Kurt Ernst -
Half Of Japan Now Drives High MPG, Low Power Kei Minicars
If there's one thing that illustrates the culture difference between the United States and Japan better than anything else, it's the cars everyone drives. In the U.S, the Ford F-Series truck has dominated the sales charts for quarter of a century. The smallest engine available is a 3.5-liter...
Antony Ingram -
Wider 2012 Mitsubishi i-MiEV For U.S. Market: First Sketch
We've been waiting eagerly for more details of the modified U.S.-spec 2012 Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric car. Now, Mitsubishi has started the long tease. The company tweeted a sketch this morning that shows a wider, slightly more angular i-MiEV that still preserves the now-familiar shape of the...
John Voelcker