Kei cars are a big thing in Japan (No pun intended). There are so many models to choose from. Mazda, Suzuki and Nissan have many versions of them.
Essentially a Kei car is a small and light vehicle designed to comply with Japanese regulations in such a way that they are exempted from the requirement to certify that adequate parking is available for the vehicle. They mostly have diminutive engine and CVT gearboxes to propel them.
Toyota has revealed a new Kei car called Pixis Epoch for the Japanese market. The Pixis Epoch is designed and developed by Daihatsu and will be sold under the Toyota umbrella. The Toyota Pixis Epoch measures just 3,395 mm long, 1,475 mm wide and 1,500 mm tall.
It is powered by a 660cc engine mated to a CVT transmission in both two wheeled and four wheeled drive configurations. All models are automatic start stop system. A tiny engine, very little weight, good aero package and a start stop system together shoot the fuel efficiency to a whooping 27kmpl.
The Toyota Pixis Epoch starts at under USD 10,000 (around 5 lakhs).
[Source: autoblog.com]
What’s so great about 27kmpl, isn’t Indica/Indigo rated @25kmpl, with much bigger engines and space inside?
Never ending loop. First take a basic car, get bored, add some more metal and plastics to stretch it and make it comfortable, enjoy for some days then get bore again due to lack of pulling power then put extra powerful and high capacity engine to pull it, put some more power to get thrilled and put extra rubber for more thrilling experience, then realize that you also need efficiency so make it hybrid to get efficiency and after some days realize that its still too costly and difficult to deal with traffic, then finally chisel out those extra weight and engine capacity to get back to basic and call it new innovation and this goes on…. Never ending loop.
If this ever comes to India, Nano wold have serious competition. Indians traditionally take pride in the ownership of their car and hardly would like to be seen with a tiny car (which is one of the reasons for nano’s poor sales). Is Toyota having any plans of bringing it to the second most crowded country in the world?
I want one. it makes more sense than getting a damn hybrid. if only they can sell it outside jp/ make them in india or thailand or something and upgrade the height tire to cope with our bad roads.
huh