Mini Miracles: The History of the Kei Car 

Coincidence, I took my Subaru Forester to the dealer today and there was a totally restored Subaru 360 in the showroom. It's small enough to hide in a backpack and totally unsafe at any speed.

@7:57 The reason Honda skipped passenger cars and went straight to sports cars and work trucks is because at the time the Japanese government was preparing to pass a law that forbade new players from entering the car market, meaning that any company that hadn't made cars by that point wouldn't have been allowed to do so. Soichiro thought the idea was absurd so he got his motorcycle company to make it's first cars just in case, all the while he was fighting a media, lobbying & PR war against the Japanese government. He won. Soichiro also fought the Jap gov on other such laws. One great example being a certain law Japan had at the time that reserved the red color for emergency vehicles only, thus making it forbidden for passenger cars of any kind. That's the reason the S500 was painted red. It wasn't just because it was a sporty convertible but also to warm up the Japanese public & press to the idea of owning red cars. He also won that one.

Fun fact: Daewoo Tico is a rebadged kei car, the Suzuki Alto 3rd gen, altough with 800cc engine. It was quite popular in Poland in 90s and early 2000s togegher with other Daewoo models, and was even produced here in Poland too. So 'technically' we even built kei cars in Europe :D

Excellent video! There's a huge market for converted Kei vans and pickups here in the Philippines. There called multicabs here. Almost all are Suzukis, we've had a D64v for almost 6 years, it a great family vehicle. Please note that the narrow width is perfect for the all too often narrow roads here.

FYI the Caterham Seven 170 (Suzuki 660cc engine) is sold as a Kei car in Japan. It has a narrower track than other 7s but the engine power exceeds that of the gentlemen's agreement. Apparently Caterham said they would detune the engine for the Japanese market but the authorities told them not to bother.

I was in Japan in the early 1980's. One of my mates had a Kei Car. At first I thought it would be WAY TOO SMALL. It was quite a nice little car !! I was impressed. Of course in Japan the roads are much smaller than California, but getting around town in one of those was loads of fun!!

Glad to see the underrated class of cars getting some traction and love! My first was a 1997 Daihatsu Mira, so the car was no longer than 3.3 meters and while it wasn't uncommon to drive a kei car in my country, it did feel just small enough to weave through traffic. That car really made you feel like being in the 90s for a cost much smaller (at the time) than its 'bigger counterpart', the Toyota Corolla.

Note: As indicated by the air intakes on the yellow car in your cover image, like the Autozam, the Honda Beat is also mid-engined.

Indonesia had their own encounter with kei cars: 1. A lot of Japanese manufacturers brought their kei cars over here, such as the aforementioned Honda mini-pickup that we call Honda TN, Daihatsu Fellow Max, Honda Life, the 4th gen Suzuki Carry, and the 3rd gen Daihatsu Hijet. They're now rare cars. 2. Way back in the 60s (as early as 1962, just before the 4th Asian Games in Jakarta), Daihatsu used to import the OG, three-wheeled Midget. It was known as a form of public transport named Bemo, short of Becak Motor or autorickshaw. They were phased out in the following years, and only a few of them survived.

Correct me if I'm wrong but last year saw a record sale with 50% of all cars sold in Japan being Kei Cars I imported my 2021 Daihatsu Copen GR early this year and I love it. Completely different to the standard western cars we are used to. Does everything they can but taking up a fraction of the space.

Suzuki Wagon R. They are still sought after in the used market. They are small on the outside with an interior room that seemed magically large. I still remember the TV commercial back in the day when someone came to their Wagon R with the shopping cart from a supermarket and they actually fitted the whole cart inside the car.

Nice to finally see a video about Kei cars as my father owns a L251 Daihatsu Cuore (Export Version of the Mira where they bolted on a third cylinder for a whopping 58hp out of 989cc). I want to add that despite its small dimensions, it can fit 4 people very comfortably, more so than my mom’s Seat Ibiza, especially on the rear seat bench. And although it isn’t objectively fast, it’s quite fun to drive around in and feels much quicker than it actually is. Would really like to experience how the 2-cylinder Mira performs when fully loaded though, having seen how slow the 3-cyl can get. Tires are surprisingly expensive btw, you can pretty much only get Yokohama or some random chinese brand you never heard of, can’t be picky when you need 145/80 R12. A full set of winter Tires is about 280€, which is a lot for a tiny ‘car’ that can be bought for well under 1000€.

I was very happy to see that you had posted this video. I drove a kei-car (2004 Suzuki Wagon R) all over Aichi and Shizuoka, Japan, and I loved it. The cargo space was better than many much larger (i.e. fatter, heavier, gas-guzzling) cars sold in the US. I look at the similar sized Smart, and think how stupid it is to have only two seats and far less cargo room. I wish we had kei-cars in the US. We had a water pipe break during a trip and I was able to push the car to a repair shop for quite a distance on level ground while my wife steered from the driver's seat. That's how light they are. The downside is lack of safety. You don't want to have a collision in one of these things, unless perhaps, it's with another kei-car. There is absolutely no crush zone.

I absolutely love kei cars. If I lived in Japan right now I'd get a N One with the 6MT. Of course it goes without saying that the sporty ones from the 90s and the newer (but already discontinued) S660 are the finest Kei cars ever made.

One of my favourites is undoubtedly the Cony Guppy. It could be the world's smallest pickup, and although it looks like the engine is in the front, it is actually mid-engined. The occupant's feet stick out beyond the front axle as a deformable crash structure, and it scores extra points for its suicide doors.

Some kei vans also came to Europe, often in rebadged form. For instance the Suzuki Carry became the Bedford Rascal while the Daihatsu Hijet was sold as the Piaggio Porter

The Kei cars make that ‘53 Customline look huge, I wonder how many of these were sold in Japan.

As a 6'2" American. I probably wouldn't be able to fit in a Kei car. But I would definitely try. For some reason I love extremely large and extremely small cars.

I think it's worth mentioning in Tokyo you can't buy anything other than a kei car unless you can prove you have a car space to park it. So it seems the kei car will always have a market.

Soon enough to not be able to watch it fully

Saw a couple in Hawaii last winter. Really weird. I want one...or two! The vans were great.

I'm an American who owns a 93 Suzuki Cappuccino. I absolutely love it. I can't think of another vehicle that is more fun to drive.

I drove a 1969 Subaru 360 (Kei) van to high school in Houston, Texas from 1970 through '72. The top speed was barely 60 mph, the tailwind of pickup trucks and Cadillacs blew me all over the road. My friends and I wanted to be hippies and were oblivious to all danger.

Glad to see the Kei cars getting more attention over time. I live in America, and I hate how huge all vehicles have gotten lately, with the compact and subcompact city car classes slowly dying out here. I really like space efficiency, as it makes me feel more in control of the car with how nimble they are compared to large, lumbering trucks and SUVs. I'm still trying to reconcile what car I'll eventually get to replace the Ford C-Max I used to have.

Honestly I'd like a video on chrysler's k-cars. Especially if we're talking about the Dodge M4S turbo.

Kei cars have quite a presence in Malaysia with the 2nd national car manufacturer Perodua producing rebadged Daihatsu Miras and Moves during their early years

Kei-car owner here - the lambo kei, Autozam AZ-1. Actually bought it used in the Netherlands, where you guys really seem to enjoy the quirky JDM stuff ;-) Fun fact, the Caterham Seven 170 (and its predecessor) is actually sold as a kei-car in Japan as well, since it's running a 660cc Suzuki engine. And that is the very proof that the 64 hp is only a gentleman's agreement and not a legal requirement, since that has 85 hp.

You should check out kei trucks and minivans that are being sold like hotcakes in the Philippines, despite being a surplus and being converted to left hand drive, those are a hit in the country :D

In April 1980, I was stationed at MCAS Iwakuni Japan. I bought myself a early 1960's Datsun Sunny Station wagon, grey in color. I may well be the only person who ever got a ticket for failure to yield to an aircraft while on taxi. I still have that ticket in my scrap book. I still have the key for that car. On level roads, no problem in moving along. Try going up hills with more than three people and a small load ... NOPE ... nothing doing. I paid 300 dollars for it and sold it to a Major (F4 Pilot) for 350.00 dollars.

As it turns out; a lot of American farmers, or other land owners, buy the truck and van versions of these cars in fairly large numbers. Of course they have to be 25 years old to be legally imported

Kei cars are pretty popular here in Vancouver, BC. There is a healthy JDM import market, and you see a fair number of especially the kei vans and trucks driving around. I myself owned a Subaru Sambar for a short time a few years ago. It was super fun and quirky but ultimately a poor financial decision; parts were hard to find and expensive, and most mechanics didn't know what they were looking at. It was fun for a while though!

3:00 Someone almost got run over 70+ years ago, what a capture

one place you'd be surprised to find Kei cars was Russia. There was a large amount of Japanese RHD cars that were sent from Hokkaido to (usually) Vladivostok, usually large brands like Toyota, Nissan, and primarily Mitsubishi were imported to Russia and given Russian registration. you can find some Mitsubishi Kei cars on the roads of Russia today, usually RHD unless converted by the owner.

Another great episode Ed. Always brightens my day. Thanks!

Thanks to a transmission failure of my brand new VW CC 2.0TSI in 2015, I became an involuntary driver of a VW Up! 1.0. I fought the dealership staff to get something bigger, but they didn’t have any other courtesy car on the lot. I took it and… fell in love instantly, as it is a truly great little gem. After nearly a month and 3000+ kilometers I even considered buying the Up! GTI as a toy, to have fun on the weekends and keep it forever… Imagine my shock when I arrived in Japan 8 months later and realized the Kei is much smaller still. Great episode - as always. Thanks!

Hey Ed, thanks for sharing this exciting & informative video!!! 👍👍🙂

ur such an amazing content creater for having meaty, well made videos focusing on quirky or weird or cars full of character or forgotten. all so interesting !!

My most favorite kind of Kei Car is the mini sports car, either with the classic FR layout (like the Suzuki Cappuccino) or with the kart-like MR one (like the Honda Beat, the Honda S660 and the Mazda Autozam AZ-1). I just love these little sports cars, they seem like they have no mass at all when they're being driven. 💗 edit: the Mazda R360 Coupe is sweeet! I'd love to have it! 💗

I currently reside in Japan. Lover seeing the Kei cars. Design and styling. I’m 6’3” Swed. I don’t fit in many of them. Daihatsu makes many of them. I had the Daihatsu Gino. Fun but a bit to small. Now I have a 207 CC Peugeot. A bit larger. Not by much. Thank you for the great auto site. I enjoy all your posts. BTW my very first car was a 1956 Cadillac Sedan-Deville pearl white with a gold grill. The back passenger widow was the only one that went down. Hidden gas port under the taillight and an auto suck-down boot lid. Drove from gas station to gas station. Loved it. Again thank you

6:51 Give the Daihatsu Midget some goddamn respect he's a funky boi and I love it

Thanks for featuring my Cuore! That was an amazing surprise! Great video I enjoyed it a lot.

This should be fun!

Surprisingly comprehensive explanation of keis! I love my Honda Beat, and I'm always happy to see people taking am interest in kei stuff. I'd also like to mention there's a kei compliant version of the Caterham Seven, if you want another example of a European kei.

Ed, thank you for providing a great overview of this market segment. I really enjoyed it and learned a few things along the way.

I LOVE my '06 Daihatsu Mira, unfortunately, a botched floor sealing job urges me to sell it as scrap soon. Except for the superfluous 1st and 3rd gear and the bad hillclimbing on the Autobahn it has been a reliable, and practical city car that let me sneak (and park!) through Hamburg's awful traffic. I will miss you!

Your car videos are so superior to your American youtube competitors. I find the European viewpoint and humor so refreshing. I mean, you never seem to run out of great content. I thought some of those Japanese Kei cars were excellent, seductive, clean designs! The very first Subaru, for example, did not really look old fashioned at all. Timeless, like a Japanese VW bug. Some of the cute little sports cars were extremely hot looking, even if they didn't have racing specs. I visited Japan in 2003, and I can confirm that those micro-vehicles and micro-vans are ubiquitous.

Okei got it. Thanks Ed. That was fun. Cheers 🇨🇦

I used to work as a product planner for Subaru in Westminster, California back in the late 1980s. I remember Yoshi, who brought in the 360. He was a really nice guy. My favorite K car was the Rex.

Entertaining as always...

This is perfect timing, I've just bought an imported Suzuki Jimny (still waiting for it to get loaded on a truck and brought here) and trying to explain to people exactly how small it actually is has been difficult.

Suzuki Sambar? Subaru Sambar. Excellent video!!! Love it, thank you.

I REALLY LOVE Kei cars, they are SO SMALL and pretty nippy for their size

I live in British Columbia, Canada. Old Kei trucks are *ubiquitous* as farm runarounds here (at least in my area). Basically: they are cheaper than a utility ATV, road legal, cheaper to fuel than a pickup, and big enough for standard little runs into town.

Shout out to the mighty pickup, the Suzuki Mighty Boy.

ANOTHER GREAT VIDEO ED!!! MERCI!

Ed great video as usual. Did you look at the Japanese versions of the retro Kai cars like the Nissan Figaro

How about a show featuring cabs like the American Checker and British cabs? Great content - thank you.

Another excellent presentation. Thanks, Ed, for a wonderfully informative channel. I had a Honda S500 that I bought in 1973. Really fun, sporty get-about.

Kei cars are just so cool. I remember as a kid seeing them for the first time on TopGear where Clarkson drove a Mitsubishi Dangan through a Halfords. So many cool and interesting versions

Love the little Kei cars! 👍🏼

Fascinating, excellent report.

your research is amazing

And here I thought the Corsa B 3 door was the smallest and quickest. It still is in my garage and heart ♡

Nice to see the VW Up get mentioned so many times. Due to a problem with my car we took my wife's on a 250 mile round trip to the airport. Plenty of room for the two of us and our luggage. Several times she had to remind me that the speed limit is 70MPH. At the end of the journey it had used half a tank of fuel, reporting 67MPG U.K (55MPG US).

I drove a Suzuki Fronte in the early 80s when I was stationed in Japan.. pushed it to the limits.. it was so much fun! Thanks for the memories!

what a cool episode, I skipped back multiple times to get a good look at these exotic cars :)

Weer een top aflevering Ed!

Great video of great - small - cars. I once owned a Subaru Mini Jumbo, quite luxurious with 4 doors. I really enjoyed it.

i have been waiting for this so eagerly

Dear Ed! Thanks a lot for your great videos! As a car guy, petrol head, V8 fetishist I really LOVE your channel! It's fantastic that you have a heart for the underdogs, the unwanted, the misunderstood and hideously ugly automobiles, too! I wouldn't know anyone better than you to honor the famous and mysterious brand MITSUOKA by creating a dedicated video for it?!? Pleeeeaaaaase!!! Cheers from Germany 👍🤗

Im driving here in Kazakhstan and i can tell you that kei cars are plentiful here. Even though its right hand drive here, you see tons of left hand drive cars. The roads are thin and everyone weaves in and out, but id be too scared to drive a small minicar in the event of a crash.

I would buy one if they were available in Europe. Especially the ones by Suzuki are quite neat.

Thanks, what a great program. I had a Ford KA, and I loved it, it was fantastic, it had the amazing Ford Cross Flow Kent 1,300 cc engine with a manual 5 speed gear box, and it handled well on our Mountainous South Island Roads here in New Zealand! I was going to keep it forever but my son smashed it. I'm thinking of getting another as it will be a classic car!

my very first car was a Kei car, a Daewoo Tico. I once cramped 8 people in it on a 70 mile journey in the middle of the winter. Best fun I ever had. They are cheerful,, noisy, low on power, no safety features at all, but boy they're fun to kick around.

I had a 1997 Daihatsu Cuore with 42 hp and until now it was the most fun car to drive I've ever owned. And for short trips 4 people fit in relatively easily. I still don't really understand myself, why I sold it.

Japanese Kei cars are already present on the roads in the US and Puerto Rico.

Your videos are so grate! Congrats

Brought my Honda N360 back to the US after I left Japan. Picked it up at the Port of Los Angeles, RH drive and screaming at 6000 rpm going down the freeway at 50 mph. I managed to get six US servicemen in that car. Loved the little bugger.

The production quality of all your videos is phenomenal. I forget I'm not watching TV.

Your voice and way of speaking at the WW2 history segment reminds me of that military training short films voice

Excelente capítulo, como todos 👏 👍 👌

I live in the US and own a Beat. It is nothing short of brilliant considering it is, in Japan at the time, a bottom-of-the-barrel, cheap throw-away car. The Beat is more fun than any car I have owned over the past 50 years, including a Viper, multiple Corvettes, and Z32s.

Definitely fall in love with the Copen since GT4. Now, I'm making a plan to own one.

I love the honda beat! Such an iconic little car

There is a bar near me that has a Kei van as their business vehicle. It looks really cool to me.

Thanks for a good reference vid. Australia got the Honda T500 truck in this from about 1964, then the Honda S600 and S800 sports cars. By about 1969 we got the Honda N360 sedan then a bit later the N600. We were about the only country outside Japan to get the Z360 sporty car as later seen splitting in the film Malcolm. Everywhere else got the Z600 but we did not. Daihatsu sold the two stroke Fellow Max here soon after. By the time Honda sold the Life 360 here , Honda buyers were much more interested in the early Civic cars and the true Kei cars petered out. Earliest would be the Mazda 360 sold here in 62 or 63 although some of the 360 Mazda three wheel trucks were sold here from 1959. Qantas had a few of them for airport use.

I love this class of cars.

I love these things, i wanna have bunch of them at some point.

I guess I'm late in the game, but Kei vehicles older than 25 are now being legally imported here in the United States as classic or vintage vehicles. Affordable Kei cars are popular in crowded cities, and Kei trucks are popular in rural areas. However, on the advice of insurance companies, several states have banned them due to safety, but there has been a backlash to these bans by Kei enthusiasts since these Kei cars and trucks are no more dangerous than the motorcycles with even more power already on the roads. So Kei cars and trucks are definitely living a second life here in the United States for the reasons stated at the end of this video.

Thanks for another great video. Would you consider making on of your next videos about one of the most obscure and unknown cars - the infamous Susita! (pronounced Soosita)

i drive a honda beat daily and it's the most fun you can ever have on 4 wheels... if you ever get a chance to drive a kei-car you absolutely should. they're extremely cheap to run too.

I love the videos! Do you have any book recommendations for general automotive history knowledge like this?

I friggin’ love Kei cars

There’s a kei van for sale at this dodgy used auto shop near me. It’s so cute I want to get it but I’d rather not deal with crazy eye Dave again. Cute little thing it is. Another top notch video my man.

Wederom een KEI goeie aflevering!

I owned a Suzuki Wagon R turbo manual when I lived in Japan. I really wish there was a way I could've brought that home to the US. Great mpg, easy to flick around and with a little UNI air filter bolted on it made some great turbo sounds.

Australia got a lot of these. I remember the Daihatsu Mira (Handivan in Australia, Cuore in Europe) and Suzuki Mighty Boy. I personally had a Honda City and then a Suzuki Alto. So my first two vehicles were both kei cars. The Honda 360 was available as the Scamp for a time until it was supplanted by the City and Civic. Both the Jimny and Jimny Sierra were distributed. The Sierra (sold as the Samurai in America) was far more successful. The Subaru Sambar made an appearance too . There are some kei-trucks which though not common, are available. A local mixed commercial development near me displays one. I think it's probably a Daihatsu Hi-Jet. There was time that you'd routinely see Handivans and Mighty Boys on the road. Jimny Sierras are still an occasional sight on Australian roads and have a much better reputation in Australia than they did the the US.

Suzuki DA64 is very popular here in the Philippines.. people sell them as refurbished cars... I love how small it is and easy to drive in traffic, it can turn on a dime and and has 4x4 in times that you need it...

I live in the Netherlands and daily drive a 1993 Daihatsu Cuore/mira. Currently in the process of engine swapping it to a 1 litre out of a 2001 Cuore. It has been the most reliable car i have ever had and i love it so much. I will keep it for as long as possible!

If you can, you should do a concept for the modern SAAB or Scion like you did for Pontiac