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Kei Cars Japan tiny but often Minibuses High-Tech.
You do not need to tell you that the Japanese auto market is about as far removed from the U S market as you can get.
Where large trucks still dominate in North America, vehicles that almost fit in the pickup truck bed of the average represent nearly half of the sales of Japanese cars.
These cars are known as kei cars, or kei car - light motor.
Conforms to a strict set of rules and regulations, the smallest of Japan offers began as their smaller counterparts in Europe, providing cheap transport in the postwar period.
But as the roads of Japan became more and more people, their slightly off goal - tight physical dimensions and small cars keep size to a minimum, exempting them from the rule of Japan that a larger car must have ' a suitable parking space They also cut useful are many car taxes Japan.
An industry has grown up around kei car with all passenger cars, vans and pickup all available as kei cars - even sports cars, during.
None are over 11 feet 2, more than 4 feet 9 or taller than 6 feet 6 All are restricted to 660cc engine capacity and 63 horses.
For comparison, a Smart Fortwo is shorter at 8 feet 8 and less than a little over five feet tall, but wider to 5 feet 1, has a larger engine 1 liter rolled horsepower 70 in the specification U S.
All is not as boxy as Nissan and Mitsubishi EK Wagon Dayz you see in the video above - retro designs such as N-One Honda led us last year are very popular - but maximize the outer dimensions of the car in regulations ensuring the interior space is as large as possible, you'd be surprised how many of these vehicles are inside.
Given their incredibly compact size, it is not surprising these aren cars t sold in the United States, if a vehicle is close The all-electric Mitsubishi i, or i-MiEV is based on a kei-class car even sold name in many other markets around the world.
Although the standard i perfectly meets the regulation of kei in terms of size and engine capacity, in the variant of the essence, the American version was expanded by more than 4 inches and stretched by almost a foot This helps to comply with the collision regulations of the United States, and also a bit more appropriate for larger context of the average American than their Japanese counterpart.
It is not the only kei-class car ever to hit the United States, about 10,000 Subaru 360s hit the United States in the 1960s, and with a larger engine for the US market, Honda exported its N600-based N360 kei-class in the 1960s and early 70s.
The N600 was eventually replaced by the Civic - and with that, the rest is history.
Some kei cars were traditionally rather spartan inside and used mechanicals pretty basic, but like any other vehicle these days, are remarkably keis modern high technology.
continuously variable transmissions are common systems and in-car entertainment abound - you may as well enjoy yourself while stuck in endless traffic Tokyo.
Their ubiquity is also part of the popular culture of the agreement of Japan, with events dedicated and non-unknown race series at the other end of the scale, vans and pickup kei dominate vehicle industry vans Japan.
Really, they're exactly as they seem - regular cars, just miniature scale.
And while they are struggling to sell U of S from huge, imposing SUVs and trucks, they're as much a product of their environment like the Ford F-Series is in the States, but a bit more fuel efficient, too.
Kei Cars Japan Tiny (but often HighTech) minibuses, cars, japan, tiny, often.