Kei Cars Hit 60th Birthday

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Kei Cars Hit 60th Birthday

posted August 25th, 2009 by jonfrench

Japanese kei (literally “light”, which is from the full name keijidousha, or “light vehicles”) vehicles first came into being 20 years ago. They are a separate class of vehicles in Japan, under regular cars, which are called futsusha (literally “regular cars”, surprisingly). They are built within certain size and CC limitations to qualify for this class. In addition to the obvious fuel economy benefits, they also qualify for tax breaks.

Since most urban driving speeds are so low in Japan (how many hours have I waited at red lights while taking 30 minutes to cover a few kilometers?), there is little need for a very much horsepower for city driving in this nation where two thirds of the population lives in built-up areas. And if you do have a house with a parking space here, you can find that it is only just large enough to park on of these micro-vehicles anyway.

If you are interested in these kei cars, you might want to check out our Japanese car auctions to see all the different varieties that are available.

Categories:
kei cars

One Response to “Kei Cars Hit 60th Birthday”

Nissan Moco Wins JD Power Kei Car Prize | kei cars Says:
September 1st, 2009 at 4:38 pm
[...] kei car concept is now 60 years old, as we noted the other day, and these cars are increasingly sophisticated, despite their limited size and small [...]