Yoko Kojima loves zipping around Tokyo in her Daihatsu Tanto with its tiny wheels and pint-sized engine, but Japan’s beloved kei cars may have a rocky road ahead despite a legion of loyal fans. Sales of the cutesy box-shaped cars, a staple of the…
Sales of the cutesy box-shaped cars, a staple of the world’s number three vehicle market, drove off a cliff after peaking at 2.27 million units in 2014.
The drop to 1.72 million vehicles sold last year was a response by cost-conscious drivers as the government — looking to pay down a massive national debt — jacked up taxes on the popular made-in-Japan vehicles.
There’s no doubt that keis — short for kei jidosha, or light cars in Japanese — still have plenty of fans who love their great fuel economy and modest price tag.
They make up more than one-third of the domestic market, with Honda releasing the newest version of its top-selling N-Box kei car this week.
“You can maneuver the car even if the streets are really narrow, ” said 75-year-old Kojima, whose Tanto doubles as a van for her part-time flower delivery business.
“It’s really easy to drive — I adore it.”
Keis were born out of the ashes of World War II when the government of the fast-modernising country was keen to get Japanese out of scooters or non-motorised transit and into economy-priced cars.
