Scion is back and is going to sell a kei truck in America

Liuser

Who is the target market for this? It’s an ICE vehicle, 4wd and limited to a maximum speed of 25mph. Farmers?

thelittlenag

I didn't know Scion had left...

lenerdenator

I like the concept, I just find myself wondering if the Big 3 will pull another Chicken Tax move to protect the full-size pickup golden geese. Toyota - and Japan in general - has a helluva trade relationship with the US, but that's effectively all Detroit knows how to beat the world at anymore and they love the margins on their truck portfolios, to the point that they considered sedans and most coupes to be too thin to warrant continued production.

__alexander

It’s a huge mistake to limit the speed to 25mph. When this is released in 2027, Kei trucks will be street legal in Colorado. I would have pre-ordered this without question but that speed makes it useless for basic commuting or running errands.

6DM

With a built in 25mph limiter, that eliminates "city" driving too unfortunately. Most roads around me are 35 mph. There's sizeable demand for people who want to be able to do runs to the bigbox stores for garden and DIY renovation supplies and store it the rest of the time.

0xbadcafebee

This is pretty cool. It's too bad it's just for fleets. Must be they realized how much money was going to imported Kei trucks, and that they could just... do the importing themselves, and pick up some cash. (edit: looks like they sacrificed payload for the AC/heat? only 600lbs?) The SXS looks cool, but gearheads want a tiny Jeep replacement (which there are none of in the US), not another UTV/buggy we already have

erickhill

660cc engine at ~40 horsepower is about the same as a mid-70s VW Beetle - not in cc size, but HP potential. This little truck could do a lot more than 25 mph if it were allowed to do so. Not saying that would be safe, and I'd not want to ever put one on a busy freeway, but for getting around most urban cities in the US it's fine as-is but would be even better if the limit was ~40 mph.

mike_d

In 1963 Lyndon Johnson added "light trucks" to the Chicken Tax as a quid pro quo to prevent the auto workers union from striking before the election. As a result we don't get "right sized" trucks like the kei or more efficient farm vehicles like the hilux.

snovymgodym

tl;dr: it's for the neighborhood golf cart market

rootsudo

So many people here have never driven a kei truck or a wigo/daihatsu agya. They are not fun cars, they should be cheap and disposable. The MSRP for this in japan is less than $10,000,$6000 for the base model: https://toyota.jp/pixistruck/ It's going to go here for what, $15,000? $25,000? Better than buying a 25 yr old one for $10,000 from a used dealer lot that has no parts or real mechanic trained on them but at that price point.. a Mavrick is better. The amazon truck is better.

GenerWork

Can’t wait for Floridians to jailbreak the ECU and set it the top speed for max 35 MPH in order to treat it like a long bed golf cart.

heohk

Mom, Dad, I'm kei

internet2000

Let's see if the vocal internet crowd puts their money where their posts are. I predict this being a market failure.

davexunit

The headline excited me but a gas vehicle with a 25mph limit is useless to me. When is someone gonna make an EV truck with a kei-like form factor? The Slate ain't it.

Grombobulous

For those of you clamoring for kei trucks to be street legal in the US, you really need to do some street view comparisons between Japan and the US. US roads are built for much, much higher speeds. Kei cars purposefully give up safety with the caveat that they’re only used on low speed roadways, and Japan designs their roads with the intention of these vehicles being acceptably safe in that context.

Oarch

Can I please post my favourite song about Kei Trucks: https://youtu.be/MHAOvKJngTQ

Mr_Eri_Atlov

If we change the low-speed vehicle standards to 35 mph or 40 mph, KEI trucks could thrive in America as a low-cost mobility solution!

leoc

The Toyota press release: https://pressroom.toyota.com/toyota-says-okei-to-america-int... .

lp92

This product makes no sense. Who exactly are they planning to sell to? I don't think people needing a truck for work would ever use something like this over say a F150.

ilamont

25 mph works for golf courses, resort, or island use. In rural areas on the mainland, roads connecting towns often have 45 or 55 mph speed limits so unless you plan on staying on the farm I don't think these are practical for trips to go shopping, dumping, hauling, etc. As for the imports, I saw one of these 90s-era right-hand drive kei trucks at a parking lot a few months ago and talked with the owner. He was a young guy who lived in Boston, said it was super easy to park. Speed maxed out at 70 mph, which is fine for local trips but maybe not for long highway trips. For people in jurisdictions that allow 30 year old truck imports, and are interested in getting one, there are other countries that use such trucks and have left-hand drive. Taiwan has models from CMC and Suzuki, and I believe South Korea also makes them.