From Ars Technica · · 2m
Toyota brings back Scion with tiny right-hand-drive Kei truck
Toyota resurrects its Scion brand to sell the KEI-01, a Japanese mini truck limited to 25 mph and right-hand drive, initially only to fleet buyers.
In brief
Toyota resurrects its Scion brand to sell the KEI-01, a Japanese mini truck limited to 25 mph and right-hand drive, initially only to fleet buyers. Toyota is reviving Scion to sell the KEI-01, a low-speed Japanese mini truck with right-hand drive, initially to fleet buyers only, arriving at its Indiana plant in…
Trump wanted tiny Japanese trucks legal
President Trump announced last year he wanted the Department of Transportation to make Japan's small Kei cars legal in the United States.
What makes a Kei car Kei
Kei cars must be no more than eleven point two feet long, four point nine feet wide, six point six feet tall, with engines of zero point six six litres and sixty three horsepower or…
Japan loves Kei cars
Last year Japan bought almost one point seven million Kei cars out of total sales of four point six million vehicles, making them hugely popular.
Scion returns as Toyota experiment
Toyota killed Scion over a decade ago but now brings it back as Scion by Toyota to experiment with less traditional ideas and challenge conventional thinking.
“The future of mobility will not be defined by one vehicle, one technology, or one way of thinking.”
KEI-01 is a low-speed vehicle only
The KEI-01 will be classified as a low-speed vehicle, meaning it cannot go faster than twenty five miles per hour, limiting it to surface streets.
Right-hand drive and fleet sales only
The KEI-01 is only available as right-hand drive since Japan drives on the left. Toyota will not sell to individual buyers at first, only to fleets.
Trucks arrive in Indiana mid-2027
The KEI-01 trucks will be shipped to Toyota's assembly plant in Indiana as knock-down kits, adding fifty jobs to the plant in mid-twenty twenty-seven.
Price expected between ten and twenty eight thousand
Pricing for the KEI-01 has not been announced, but speculation runs from as little as ten thousand dollars to as much as twenty eight thousand dollars.
What it means
Toyota is reviving Scion to sell the KEI-01, a low-speed Japanese mini truck with right-hand drive, initially to fleet buyers only, arriving at its Indiana plant in mid-twenty twenty-seven.
