Kei Trucks - Why Are They So Popular In The United States?

you might have noticed tiny little trucks hitting the streets here in the U.S their steering wheels are on the wrong side they're smaller than Miatas but more useful than most of our homegrown Vehicles what are they and where did they come from [Music] we should start off with some vocab when I say K car I don't mean the 80s Chrysler platform this is a k car K spelled Kei is a Japanese classification of car dating back to the late 1940s in 1949 following the end of the second world war Japan wanted to focus on rebuilding their industry one of these industries they wanted to grow was the automotive industry which was nearly non-existent at the time the issue was money cars are expensive Most Japanese families could only afford a motorcycle at the time because of this the government made a classification of vehicle to bridge that Gap a motorcycle priced car this started the K car class there were rules of course the engine could only be 150 CC's or less and the dimensions had to be under 9.2 feet in length and 3.3 feet in width as time went on these restrictions grew to where the modern case cars can have up to 660 CC engines and they can be 11.2 feet long and 4.9 feet wide owning a k car also has a bunch of monetary benefits they're cheaper to register they come with tax breaks and some places even have special cheaper parking just for k-cars around 2014 the Japanese government reduced these benefits drastically but you still get some reduction for owning the small cars K cars come in all shapes and sizes well not all sizes they're pretty small but there's plenty to pick from there's Vans trucks hatchbacks and even sporty roadsters when referring to K cars it's important to know your ABCs A is for B is for C is for those are the three most popular K cars they're sporty fun and pocket-sized which us Americans find fascinating if someone says that they love K cars it's probably one of those three but why are we seeing more and more K trucks in America well there's two main reasons here in the United States we have a 25-year import law for personal vehicles you can import any vehicle you want no matter the make model or region of origin as long as it's 25 years or older there are many reasons why it's specifically 25 years but maybe that's a topic for a future video cave Vehicles hit their stride in the 1990s they were mostly fuel injected and they were allowed to have these 660 CC engines after 1990. the 1990s although as much as some of you don't want to admit it happened now over 25 years ago tons of quality fantastic trucks are now eligible to import we have small pickups available here most of them are Gators or razors or what have you they're basically golf carts on steroids but they're super useful on farms and in the country the problem is most places don't allow them on the road and the places that do allow them on the road make it a real headache to register they're also not built to sustain highway speeds overall they're too big of a heartache to drive in the real world take for instance this Polaris Ranger a two-seater vehicle with a rear truck bed if I configure this 2023 model to have what a k-truck would have as in doors a roof front and rear glass mirrors a heater and a radio the MSRP is over 19 000 for a vehicle you still can't legally drive on the road so then let's look at some k-truck prices sure these prices are before import to the US so double that price in your head you're still nowhere near the price of the new Polaris here are a couple that are for sale at the time of making of this video that are already here in the US ready to be picked up interesting none of them are nineteen thousand dollars factor in the fact that most of them have four or five speed transmissions and can be driven on the road legally it all starts to make sense over the last few years I've noticed more and more out and about in the world from snow removal to flower shops these little workhorses are becoming a top pick for business owners and enthusiasts alike it's a shame that we never got these originally but due to safety restrictions from the government and the American idea that small engines are useless they wouldn't have been allowed or sold really well but thanks to the 25-year rule we are now able to get these trusty little trucks in our possession thank you for watching my latest video essay sometimes I get these video ideas they just come to me and I get obsessed so thank you for checking out my latest fixation if you want to see my other video essays you can click on them now and if you have an idea for a future essay please let me know in the comments section down below [Music]

Channel: Shooting Cars

Views: 310,316

Keywords:

Id: A3rV3JHrjW4

Length: 6min 1sec (361 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 20 2023