Japan's Mini Kei-Truck Sales Surge in US Despite Safety Concerns

Re:Japan's Mini Kei-Truck Sales Surge in US Despite Safety C... by infecto on Friday June 28, 2024 @08:31AM (#40819987)

Kei trucks are still nothing but a blip from a very niche market. No business outside of an owner operated business will be using these. The consumer market just finds them fun an interesting. They certainly have a nice price point but are largely for very local use as most of them cannot reach highway speeds, though I am not sure I would want to take one on a US highway.

"Ford F-Series expanded its lead in 2023, on sales of 750,789".

"Last year (2023), more than 7,500 Kei trucks were imported to the U.S. from Japan."

So the imported amount (not sold to consumer necessarily) is still less than 1% of the total market. Napkin math with chevy at 200k and capping it at 1mm for total.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Japan's Mini Kei-Truck Sales Surge in US Despite Safety C... by jqpabc123 on Friday June 28, 2024 @08:40AM (#40820052)

These Kei trucks are a less than ideal, last ditch response to a market that has failed a lot of consumers.

The number being imported by highly motivated individuals is only a small fraction of the extent of this failure.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Japan's Mini Kei-Truck Sales Surge in US Despite Safety C... by infecto on Friday June 28, 2024 @08:47AM (#40820104)

No it is not. They conservatively represent less than 1% of new trucks sold. "small indicator of the extent of this failure" that is just a projection of what you think it is. I don't disagree modern trucks are comically large and starting prices are too high, lets look towards poor federal regulations that helped get us to these large trucks before talking about market failure.

[ Parent | on HN ]