For years, enthusiasts have begged automakers to sell a brand-new Japanese Kei truck to Americans. Toyota is finally answering the call with the new Scion KEI-01 truck. You’ll be able to go to a Toyota dealer and drive away with a fresh Kei truck. But there’s an extremely huge catch, and it’s that the little guy is limited to a pitiful 25 mph. Yet, despite that, I think there’s still a market for this truck. Here’s who might buy a Scion KEI-01.
Over in Japan, the Kei-jidōsha, or “Kei,” is the nation’s smallest category of highway-legal car. Keis are subject to strict regulations. They cannot be longer than 134 inches, cannot have an engine with a displacement greater than 660cc, and the manufacturers have a gentlemen’s agreement to keep official outputs to no greater than 63 HP. If you’re willing to live with a seriously tiny vehicle, Japan is willing to give you some tax benefits.
There are all kinds of Kei vehicles, from sports cars and hot hatches to mini vans and neo-retro family cars. One of the most popular forms of Kei is the Kei truck. In Japan, these trucks are known for putting in hard work. They get used for farming, hauling mail, delivering packages, firefighting, construction, off-roading, and all points in between. Keis are to Japan what Work Truck-trim pickups are to Americans. So, in introducing the Scion KEI-01 in America, Toyota’s giving us a taste of Japanese work life.
Toyota is selecting fleet customers at first, and maybe the rest of us would get to buy one later on. But enthusiasts are disappointed, because this truck has about the same usability as a golf cart. As someone who has imported three Japanese Kei cars and researches them extensively, I think I found the market for this truck.
How Kei Trucks Work In America
Here in America, Kei trucks have taken on new lives. They’re sort of a part of counterculture, serving as the opposite of Detroit’s massive pickup trucks. Keis are seen as novel and fun, rather than a working appliance.
There are generally two types of Kei trucks that you can buy in America. The first is the “mini-truck.” These are Kei trucks, but they have limiters installed that make them go no faster than 25 mph. They’re also imported for off-road use only.
You can buy a brand-new mini-truck from an independent dealership right here in America. Some municipalities will even let you drive them on the road, provided that the road is no faster than 35 mph.
Mini-trucks have been available in America for decades, and you’ll often find them working on farms, running around college campuses, and sometimes scooting around gated communities. You can usually expect to spend over $20,000 on a brand-new mini-truck in America. Also, by “independent dealer,” I mean a random dealership, not one associated with the automaker. So you will have zero factory support and, at best, a limited warranty.
The other kind of Kei truck that you can get in America is an unrestricted one. America’s regulations dictate that an imported vehicle must either comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards or be at least 25 years old before it can be legal. The good news about this is that, if you live in a state that doesn’t hate imports, you can import one of these and drive it pretty much wherever you want. These trucks generally have top speeds above 70 mph (with cruising speeds closer to 65 mph), and the ones that are legal to import can be found with some real comfort features in them, like air conditioning, an airbag, and fuel injection.
So, what is the Scion KEI-01?
Scion’s Take On Keis
This little truck makes me giggle. No part of Toyota’s press release says anything about where this truck came from. Leslie, who wrote the first post about this truck, says that Toyota sort of danced around the subject. Well, I’ve been in the Kei world long enough to identify Kei trucks. The Scion KEI-01 is actually just a rebadged Toyota Pixis, a truck that’s notable for already being a rebadge of the Daihatsu Hijet.
I’m not sure why Toyota’s not advertising that fact. American Kei truck fans adore the Hijet, so embracing it only helps Toyota’s case. Here’s a picture of a 2025 Daihatsu Hijet Jumbo Cab:
Anyway, the Scion KEI-01 is from the tenth generation of the Daihatsu Hijet, specifically the S500 Hijet Jumbo Cab. Power comes from a 658cc Daihatsu three-cylinder engine. It’s unclear which engine and which tune will come in the Scion KEI-01, but a common Jumbo Cab configuration has the triple making 46 horsepower. This is backed by a CVT, which sends power to all four wheels through a selectable four-wheel-drive system with an auto mode and a lock mode.
Most Kei trucks in America have manual transmissions. Otherwise, this spec sheet wouldn’t be anything new for our market. As it is, the tenth generation of the Hijet has been in production for 22 years, so it’s not even new for Japan.
The Scion KEI-01 will be, like a mini-truck, limited to just 25 mph. But a key difference is that the Scion KEI-01, which will be assembled in Indiana, will be eligible for road use as a low-speed vehicle (LSV) right out of the box. This means that, in places that allow the use of LSVs, you’ll be able to drive this on roads with speeds up to 35 mph.
Unfortunately, this isn’t what enthusiasts have been begging for. Enthusiasts want proper Kei vehicles in America, not ones that are severely hamstrung by limitations. There are countless Kei enthusiasts, myself included, who simply couldn’t own the Scion KEI-01 because there would be no legal way to drive it. All of the roads surrounding my apartment have speed limits of 45 mph or faster. So the Scion KEI-01 couldn’t even legally leave my neighborhood.
But I also get why Toyota did this. Making the KEI-01 an LSV means that Toyota doesn’t have to go through the work of making the Pixis-Hijet comply with the heavy safety and emissions standards that regular passenger vehicles have to. It’s a low-buck way of getting a Kei truck on the American market.
I am one of those enthusiasts begging for real Kei trucks to be sold in America. But I also know why they are not sold here. Industry analysts have pointed out that Kei demand is so low in America that it’s just not worth it for an automaker to go through all the work, just to get a few sales. Remember, they can’t just bring the trucks to America. They have to be converted to our standards. Those who want Keis are usually satisfied by buying one that’s 25 years old.
So, then, who is the Scion KEI-01 for?
Who The KEI-01 Is For
I think the Scion KEI-01 can work for a few specific demographics. If you’re someone who doesn’t want to deal with importing or buying a 25-year-old Kei truck, the Scion KEI-01 is an option. If you don’t want to deal with an importer or a random dealership you’ve never heard of, the Scion KEI-01 is an option. If you want official manufacturer support, the Scion KEI-01 is basically your only choice.
The KEI-01 is also a decent choice for someone who drives primarily in an urban environment. If most of your miles are in places like San Francisco, New York City, or Chicago? Yeah, I could see the KEI-01 working out there. The KEI-01 is also for LSV buyers, so people who might live in gated communities, never leave cities, and so on.
In other words, to me, this truck might be for the kind of person who bought a Scion iQ when those were still in America. That’s a very small niche, for sure, but it should still result in some sales.
If you’re a person who can’t live with a truck that won’t go faster than 25 mph, I highly recommend importing your own 25-year-old Kei truck. The process is ridiculously fun; you won’t spend a bunch of money, and Japan is full of so many cool machines that you’ll feel like a kid in a candy store.
If you want to work with an importer, I recommend Tiki Bunny Imports in Wisconsin or The Import Guys in Washington. A good auction agent service is Japan Car Direct. A good Japanese used car market where you can buy a car like you would something from eBay is BeForward. Be sure to get your ride inspected before buying it, and double-check to see where your state stands on Kei vehicles.
Either way, between the Scion KEI-01 and the Fiat Topolino, I am happy to see automakers getting really experimental. Sure, neither of these vehicles are particularly practical, but they are a kind of fun we haven’t seen in a while. Maybe, with some luck, an automaker might get crazy enough to give America something that can legally go down a highway. Until then, I can’t wait to at least try the KEI-01.
Top graphic image: Toyota
I’ve become convinced that what we really need for fleet vehicles is a midsized or compact 2wd with a dropside, optionally tilting bed. That’s part of what makes the Keitruck work: it’s utilitarian. But manufacturers have been chasing rainbows and ever higher profits by turning pickups into lifestyle vehicles instead.
Dropside should be standard. Everything else should be an option.
This is both an awesome thing yet a somber one in that hooray we’re getting an official kei truck but it’s a LSV and probably illegal to remove the limiter on it.
Still, this would make for awesome college campus trucks or for inner city deliveries/living. But that damned LSV classification…