Japan’s Tiny Kei-Trucks Have a Cult Following in the US, and Some States Are Pushing Back
Demand has surged for the cheap, often decades-old vehicles. But some regulators have safety or emissions concerns.
Brian Mulcahy with his kei-truck on his blueberry farm in Holyoke, Massachusetts.
Photographer: Jesse Burke for Bloomberg BusinessweekOn a cloudy Sunday afternoon in April, about 50 people gathered on Brian Mulcahy’s blueberry farm in quiet Holyoke, Massachusetts. Mostly strangers, they were united over one shared passion: aging Japanese minitrucks.
None of the 20 vehicles parked nearby—almost comically tiny, with worn paint and dainty wheels—looked like they’d excite America’s typically size-obsessed auto buyers. But these used minitrucks, exported across the Pacific, have been building a cult following over the past decade, precisely because they’re what big, hulking, US-made trucks aren’t: compact, fuel-efficient and cheap.