Kei car

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The Daihatsu Cuore, a popular and typical kei car.

Kei car, K-car, or keijidōsha (literally "light automobile") (軽自動車, keijidōsha ^?) (pronounced /keːdʑidoːɕa/), is a Japanese category of small automobiles, including passenger cars, vans ("microvans") and pickup trucks. They are designed to exploit local tax and insurance relaxations, and are exempted from the requirement to certify that adequate parking is available for the vehicle.^[1]^[2] These standards originated in the times following the end of the Second World War, when most Japanese could not afford a full-sized car yet had enough to buy a motorcycle. To promote the growth of the car industry, as well as to offer an alternative delivery method to small business and shop owners, kei car standards were created.

The cars feature yellow licence plates, earning them the name "yellow-plate cars" (black numbers on yellow background for private use and yellow numbers on black background for commercial use) in English and Spanish-speaking circles.^[2]^[3]^[4] Because the regulations only restrict physical size, engine displacement and power, manufacturers have introduced many advanced technologies to the class. As a result, kei cars are often available with forced induction engines, automatic and CVT transmissions, front-, rear- and four-wheel drive, hybrid drivetrains, air conditioning, GPS and many other features.

Daihatsu, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Smart,^[5] Subaru, and Suzuki all manufacture kei cars, while Nissan sells badge engineered versions of Mazda, Mitsubishi and Suzuki models under licence.^[6]

1 History of regulations
2 Gallery
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History of regulations

Date	Maximum length	Maximum width	Maximum height	Maximum displacement		Maximum power
Date	Maximum length	Maximum width	Maximum height	four-stroke	two-stroke	Maximum power
8 July 1949	2.8 m	1 m	2 m	150 cc	100 cc	n/a
26 July 1950	3 m	1.3 m		300 cc	200 cc
16 August 1951				360 cc	240 cc
4 April 1955				360 cc
1 January 1976	3.2 m	1.4 m		550 cc
March, 1990	3.3 m	1.4 m		660 cc		47 kW (64 PS) (63 hp)
1 October 1998	3.4 m	1.48 m		660 cc		47 kW (64 PS) (63 hp)