Toyota bets America is ready for a tiny, slow, low-cost kei truck

The kei truck is coming to the US.

Kei vehicles (short for “keijidosha,” roughly translated to “light car”) are extremely popular and cheap in Japan. The average price for a kei car is typically between $6,000 and $11,000.

On Tuesday, Toyota announced plans to assemble a tiny pickup, the Kei-01, at its Indiana plant in the second half of 2027. It will revive Toyota’s low-cost Scion brand, which the automaker discontinued in 2016, and will initially be reserved for commercial fleets.

The Kei-01 is very different from the rest of America’s car market. It’s nearly 4 feet shorter than a Corolla, gets a motorcycle-sized three-cylinder engine, tops out at 25 mph, and has a steering wheel on the right side.

More importantly, Toyota is joining a fresh set of bets that Americans want cheaper, smaller alternatives to today’s big and expensive pickup trucks.

In October, the average transaction price for a new vehicle rose to $51,109, per Kelley Blue Book analysis. That’s a record high.

Pickup trucks were the most expensive category, with an average price of $67,912.

America’s menu for low-cost car options has been quickly vanishing from car dealership lots. Several sub-$25,000 options — the Mitsubishi Mirage, Nissan Versa, Kia Soul among them — have been discontinued since the end of 2024. Just five new-vehicle models now have an average transaction price below $25,000, according to Cox Automotive.

For years, Americans who wanted a kei truck have largely had to buy old ones. Federal rules allow vehicle imports — even if they don’t meet US safety standards — if the car is at least 25 years old. That has created a small but devoted market of car enthusiasts who are looking for their own keis.

And now, Toyota is the first company to announce plans to build its little truck in the US. The automaker said its truck will have updated safety features, including modern seatbelts, and said it’s eligible to drive in all 50 states.

The Kei-01 will be based on the Daihatsu Hijet Jumbo, which sells in Japan for around $9,000. While the company called its US-bound Kei-01 “affordable” in the press release, it hasn’t released pricing figures for the American market.

The plan will likely pull on President Donald Trump’s heartstrings.

After a 2025 trip to Japan, he has said several times that he wanted companies to start building them in the US.

“I have just approved TINY CARS to be built in America,” he wrote on Truth Social in December 2025. “These cars of the very near future are inexpensive, safe, fuel efficient and, quite simply, AMAZING!!! START BUILDING THEM NOW!”

While Toyota is the only car company with concrete US kei truck plans, it’s not alone in betting that there is an opening below the increasingly gargantuan full-size pickup. Ford plans to build its sub-$30,000 Fathom EV, while Slate Auto and Telo are developing roughly Mini Cooper-sized electric pickups for the US market.