Posted by NaOH 2 hours ago
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.
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.
> As an intentionally low-volume, niche vehicle, the KEI-01 will initially be offered through a fleet-focused pilot program to help the company learn how it can best serve U.S. customers and use cases.
https://pressroom.toyota.com/toyota-says-okei-to-america-int...
I do hope they're able to build on this, and maybe offer left-hand-drive and a more reasonable top speed eventually.
IOW, it needs to keep the 25mph speed limiter to qualify as a low speed vehicle, even in Colorado.
But rolling back or adding exemptions for small trucks is political suicide despite the clear environmental benefits.
CARB only nudges manufacturers, but the market’s own purchase preferences are doing the big push.
I don’t love the ford F-150 for being a monster truck, but consider this: with the right configuration it sears 6 adults comfortably, plus having a bed for cargo. Families legitimately replace minivans and other family vehicles with it, plus it can tow and haul being the body on frame truck that it is.
All that said, $25k isn't cheap when you can get a basic Polaris SXS for $15k. It might not be street legal in many states, but much of the usage is going to be on private property.
There are even a few businesses that specialize in these vehicles: https://www.marsminitrucks.com
As a result we don't get "right sized" trucks like the kei or more efficient farm vehicles like the hilux.
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:
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.
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