Ultimate mini-camper

Kei vehicles don't meet US crash standards so the DOT won't let them be imported for highway use. Some are around here, but for off road use only. They get used on farms a lot for light duty as they are 4X4 and have a/c.

Japan has a lot of interesting offerings to the RV world.

click

If you are looking for something to convert, a number of Japanese breadbox vans (and other mini trucks) made it to these shores in the '80s and '90s with exemptions from DOT safety standards, mostly Daihatsu and Suzuki models. Many of these were a little larger than the 'kei' class, but still quite limited on power and highway usability.

For something a little more useful on the highway, consider the subcompact panel van (early Escort vans, and later Renault Kangoo kind of defined the class, but most every European manufacturer has them) which are popular for camper conversion in Europe, often with slide-in camping packages available.

The first generation Transit Connect was in this class, only slightly Americanized for our regulations and market preferences (e.g. we must have our A/C and automatic transmissions). The newest Tourneo/Transit Connect has grown a little toward the size of our earliest minivans, but still not as big and luxurious as today's minivans, and quite easy to fit out for camping when you pull out the passenger fittings.

I for one, hope for the day when the American mindset of "bigger is better" is finally quashed.

Of course that won't happen until fuel prices get to stratospheric levels. Then maybe you'd see people actually enjoying camping by spending time outside instead of cooped up in their huge shiny RV with their a/c blasting, kicked back in a recliner watching their huge flat panel TV's.

The campgrounds I've been going to lately are essentially boondocking places - lots of folks with tents and popups and b-vans (especially VW vanagans!) These Japanese RV's would fit in these places very well indeed.

Francesca Knowles wrote:
The Japanese government is actually putting pressure on its domestic carmakers to phase out kei-type cars. Seems the Powers that Be think more Japanese should be buying bigger cars! See this report.

It was that article that led me to googling pictures of kei-cars and in the mix was the cute little RVs. As I recall from the article, the reason that the government wants to phase them out is not that they merely want the Japanese to buy bigger cars, but that they are not exportable... and thus add little to the local economy. Japan must export to make money.

I don't think these would pass the safety tests here... but I could be wrong.

Good find! The Japanese have always had some neat / ingenious / space efficient vehicles for the home market. These are yet another example, but yes, it sure would help to be small. I'm impressed.

I was in and out of Japan from '68 to '71. I remember the nifty tricycle pickups that hauled all types of goods to the little stores. The ones I remember were a little smaller & older than this one, I think.

Jim, "My spirit animal is the gummy bear."

"Kei" is an actual category of vehicle in Japan- one that's never really made it over to these shores. Link
There are many variations, from basic autos to "pickup trucks", all of them real small. The class is VERY popular over there.

But get this:

The Japanese government is actually putting pressure on its domestic carmakers to phase out kei-type cars. Seems the Powers that Be think more Japanese should be buying bigger cars! See this report.

I lived in Tokyo as an expat for a couple of years and used buy their RV magazines regularly. Couldn't understand a word, but loved seeing their efficient, ultralight, ultra-small, minivan-based RVs. Wait till gas moves up a few more $$ per gallon and we might see some of those come to the US.

Then again, the average American is larger and growing more so.

That is super Sw-e-e-e-t!


I want one, too. Wonder how much it'd be to get one over here...Wanna go in together and see if we can get a Volume Discount? :@