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Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks
https://www.economist.com/united-states/2023/04/20/rural-americans-are-importing-tiny-japanese-pickup-trucksRural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks
Bigger isn’t always better
KMTEB3
Man looking at the sea from a wall in a peaceful enviroment
Apr 20th 2023 | CHICAGO
A couple of years ago Jake Morgan, a farmer who lives just outside Raleigh, in North Carolina, realised he needed a new vehicle to get around his property. At first he was looking at “side-by-sides”—a sort of off-road utility vehicle. But watching a review on YouTube of one that costs around $30,000 made by John Deere, he saw a comment that said something like “Why don’t you just get a minitruck instead?” That is, a tiny four-wheel drive pickup truck, sometimes known as a “Kei” truck, mostly made in Japan to take advantage of laws there which tax smaller vehicles less.
Intrigued, Mr Morgan started researching. Within a few months, he drove to Newport, Virginia to pick up a 1997 Honda Acty, having spent a total of just $2,000 on importing it. He was delighted. Not only was it “dirt cheap”, but the Acty is less than five feet wide, and so can get into tight spaces a normal pickup cannot, like Mr Morgan’s barn. And unlike a side-by-side, it can also be driven legally on local roads. “They’re amazingly useful,” he says. Not long after importing his first, he sold it and bought another. The new one is even better—it has air-conditioning and a button which activates a dumper.
Kei trucks were never intended for sale in America. Most are right-hand drive, and they do not always have airbags or other safety features required in new cars. The bulk are imported under a rule that allows non-compliant vehicles that are older than 25 years to be brought into America, a carve-out intended originally for collectible vintage cars, although a few specialist dealers import newer ones too, for sale as off-road vehicles. They fill a niche American manufacturers are failing to.
[...]
Unlike new vehicles with onboard computers and complicated proprietary parts, Kei trucks are easy to modify and repair. In northern Wisconsin and Minnesota, people fit them out with tracks to drive on ice in winter. Some owners are almost cultish. “MotoCheez”, a mechanic from Connecticut, says his YouTube channel’s popularity soared after he started featuring his Kei truck.
This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline "What a Kei-motion"
Bigger isn’t always better
KMTEB3
Man looking at the sea from a wall in a peaceful enviroment
Apr 20th 2023 | CHICAGO
A couple of years ago Jake Morgan, a farmer who lives just outside Raleigh, in North Carolina, realised he needed a new vehicle to get around his property. At first he was looking at “side-by-sides”—a sort of off-road utility vehicle. But watching a review on YouTube of one that costs around $30,000 made by John Deere, he saw a comment that said something like “Why don’t you just get a minitruck instead?” That is, a tiny four-wheel drive pickup truck, sometimes known as a “Kei” truck, mostly made in Japan to take advantage of laws there which tax smaller vehicles less.
Intrigued, Mr Morgan started researching. Within a few months, he drove to Newport, Virginia to pick up a 1997 Honda Acty, having spent a total of just $2,000 on importing it. He was delighted. Not only was it “dirt cheap”, but the Acty is less than five feet wide, and so can get into tight spaces a normal pickup cannot, like Mr Morgan’s barn. And unlike a side-by-side, it can also be driven legally on local roads. “They’re amazingly useful,” he says. Not long after importing his first, he sold it and bought another. The new one is even better—it has air-conditioning and a button which activates a dumper.
Kei trucks were never intended for sale in America. Most are right-hand drive, and they do not always have airbags or other safety features required in new cars. The bulk are imported under a rule that allows non-compliant vehicles that are older than 25 years to be brought into America, a carve-out intended originally for collectible vintage cars, although a few specialist dealers import newer ones too, for sale as off-road vehicles. They fill a niche American manufacturers are failing to.
[...]
Unlike new vehicles with onboard computers and complicated proprietary parts, Kei trucks are easy to modify and repair. In northern Wisconsin and Minnesota, people fit them out with tracks to drive on ice in winter. Some owners are almost cultish. “MotoCheez”, a mechanic from Connecticut, says his YouTube channel’s popularity soared after he started featuring his Kei truck.
This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline "What a Kei-motion"
32 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
I see two local bicycle shops have them. Then again my town has a bunch of street legal electric golf carts people run around in. The ordinance is that the little pickups and van cant go in major highways... No big deal. They are only 660 cc anyway...
Hummm i wonder if you could electrify them? Now that would be neat...
A REAL Tampa Bay Lightning, eh?
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?
I am acquainted with a local landscaper. When he went to buy a working truck, he ended up getting a very old used one because the new ones were just not built to do work.
