Talk:Kei truck

This is written from American perspective. It only talks about importing trucks to America, and uses American measurements first instead of Japanese metric.

Yes you are right about that. If someone can add a broader outlook that will be welcome. I cannot do that because I have never even seen one and the only sources I can read are by Americans interested because of the gas mileage. Hughespj (talk) 11:30, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

I love how the US laws treat them almost like toys... how strange, and oddly stereotypical of US road culture. Last time I was in a Hijet it was bombing down the outside lane of a UK motorway passing most other traffic with a load of furniture in the back :D 193.63.174.10 (talk) 14:28, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

that's because around here they are toys, they are classified as Type II ATVs a catigory that inludes the John Deere Gator, the Polaris Ranger, and the Kawasaki Mule. to become legitimate cars here either the mini trucks adopt our crash standards, or our crash standards lax to allow the mini trucks "and we all know that ain't going to happen any time soon... plus unlike Europe and Japan we actualy have a wide veriety of larger more capable pickup trucks avalable. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.235.83.23 (talk) 15:33, 31 December 2011 (UTC)

I placed a POV tag on content in the See Also section. A lot of this is actually pretty interesting but sounds like a commercial, and violates several guidelines such as neutral point of view, no original research, reliable sources, and verifiability. Example: "Kei truck owners work the vehicles hard and are not shy about extracting grueling performance out of these little machines." Hughespj (talk) 18:25, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

The source of this content was discovered, found to be spam, and the material deleted by UnneededAplomb. Thanks! Hughespj (talk) 11:46, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

Definition

Mini truck redirects to this article but I think this should be re-considered. The Geo Metro truck is described as a mini truck in its own article but I don't think it is a Kei truck. The Geo Metro obviously is a mini truck by US standards but I don't think it would be by Japanese standards. Biscuittin (talk) 12:47, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

If you do a search on "Japanese Mini Truck" you will get hits on these Kei trucks. "Mini Truck" unqualified could well be other things. Hughespj (talk) 11:26, 15 December 2009 (UTC)

current manufacturers

A recent episode of "Japanology Plus" mentioned that only two manufacturers are still making kei trucks. Does anyone know which companies? Elsquared (talk) 02:34, 7 November 2022 (UTC)

I followed the links from the sample images and then followed the official website links for each to find that the following (maybe more) are still being advertised for sale in Japan:

• https://www.daihatsu.co.jp/lineup/truck/
• https://toyota.jp/pixistruck/
• https://www.mazda.co.jp/cars/scrum-truck/
• https://www.suzuki.co.jp/car/carry/

• https://www.mitsubishi-motors.co.jp/lineup/minicab_truck/index.html

But the Honda Acty has finished.

Looks like Japanology Plus can't count.  Stepho  talk  03:21, 7 November 2022 (UTC)

@Elsquared: Well, I have to disagree. The Toyota Pixis is a rebadged Daihatsu, while the Mitsubishi and the Mazda are both rebadged Suzukis. As far as I can tell, only Suzuki and Daihatsu remain.  Mr.choppers | ✎  06:03, 7 November 2022 (UTC)

Fair enough. The difference between counting badges, vs counting manufacturers.  Stepho  talk  06:39, 7 November 2022 (UTC)

Care to add a funny video?

Today, I discovered this video:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=yTKEFuiUXjc

It shows how compact Kei Truck is, compared to 2 deka fumo Touhou Project dolls. 2A00:1370:81A2:E0D:F123:1FFB:EF50:9023 (talk) 10:00, 16 July 2023 (UTC)

Massachusetts

Hi Beland and Stepho-wrs. As someone who owns a kei car in a US state where they are no longer allowed to be titled or registered, the recent reversal of the Massachusetts prohibition of kei trucks (and other import vehicles) is of major importance to me. I think it needs to be spelled out more clearly why this merits inclusion (Autopian and Jalopnik have writeups on the entire situation), and it might need a separate subsection.

But I may be assigning too much relevance to this specifically American situation - let's discuss whether or not we should include it, and how to word it so that we don't come across as overly americentric. Best,  Mr.choppers | ✎  17:35, 25 September 2024 (UTC)

Given it's a relatively short article, we do have room to list all the jurisdictions where kei trucks are illegal, whether they are national or sub-national. If that becomes a very large number, we can simply report aggregate numbers and link to comprehensive off-site lists. But I agree, legal status is generally an interesting property for pretty much any subject. Massachusetts will soon make a decision one way or the other, and it can just be listed along with other states, though it may have national implications if they are interpreting federal and not state standards. -- Beland (talk) 18:07, 25 September 2024 (UTC)

"is of major importance to me" (my emphasis). I think that sums up your position. Your enthusiasm is welcome but it's a single state in a single country and only for a few months. The relevance to an international audience is close to zero.  Stepho  talk  22:33, 25 September 2024 (UTC)

There are millions of readers in Massachusetts, millions more in neighboring states, and hundreds of millions in the same country where more or less the same safety regulations apply and who have a stake in how they are interpreted. -- Beland (talk) 23:48, 25 September 2024 (UTC)

Millions. Okay, let's talk numbers. Count every man, women and child in Massachusetts - which is listed as 7 million. World population lists the world total as about 8 billion. So Massachusetts is roughly 1/1000 of the total world population, or about 0.1%.

The United States is listed as about 335 million. So 335/8000 which is roughly 4%.

So we have 96% of the world population not in the US and 99.9% not in Massachusetts.

So again, back to my point that a law in a single state of a single country that was active for only a few months is not notable.  Stepho  talk  11:44, 26 September 2024 (UTC)

Those numbers do not take into account what fraction of people can actually read English, nor which Wikipedia they prefer to read. Official statistics from this month show 39.8% of page views came from the United States, 9.5% the UK, 8.6% India, 4.4% Canada, and 2.9% Australia. I would expect the fraction of readers from Massachusetts to be closer to 1% than 0.1%, which for context is twice as many as readers from Japan (0.5%) and about two-thirds the readership of the Philippines (1.4%).

English Wikipedia articles on topics where there is a US state-by-state policy battle happening typically list the status of all US states, often with a map. I have found sources on kei truck legal status for some but not all states, and will be integrating the info that I have. This includes the fact that both Texas and Massachusetts authorities reversed bans after a short time, which is relevant to (among others) enthusiasts in states that ban kei trucks - they should know it's possible to reverse these policies simply by getting together as a group and asking.

I have separated this content out into a new section "Legal status in North America" (Canadian laws are also relevant to the US due to freedom of movement and trade arrangements) so that anyone not interested in these details, whatever their country of residence, can easily skip them. -- Beland (talk) 18:10, 26 September 2024 (UTC)

I'm not convinced by your numbers. However, since your addition of the American section, it is now a more natural fit. So I remove my objections.  Stepho  talk  23:18, 27 September 2024 (UTC)