|
Actually, Kei cars DO reduce R&D money and production capacity that could go to bigger vehicles that local manufacturers can export.
Kei cars are a market distortion. Just like the "full sized" and "mid sized" US pick-up classes, created by the market distortion that is CAFE, the Kei class is an unusually restrictive class that encourages manufacturers to make specific cars to take advantage of favorable taxation... cars which are not suited to any other market. (US pickups are just way too big and thirsty. Keis are just too small for the price)
Kei car size and displacement restrictions are so extreme that the Toyota Agya (Daihatsu Ayga), the cheapest Toyota on sale in developing markets today, is based on a stretched and widened Daihatsu Mira, and fitted with an engine twice as big.
I'd hate to see the class go. And I'm sad that I might never get a chance to buy a Honda N-One locally... but that's the way the cookie crumbles.
|