Cars - Keicar

	Cars - Keicar

Keicar (K-car), also called keijidōsha (in Japanese: 軽自動車 light motor vehicle), is a Japanese category of small automobiles, including passenger cars as well as vans and pick-up trucks for commercial use. They are mainly designed for sale in Japan, because there are some tax and insurance relaxations and an exemption from the usual requirement of certification that one has adequate parking space at his or her home or has contract for a parking spot.

These relatively relaxed standards came from the post-World War II days when most Japanese were too poor to buy a fullsized car, yet had more than enough money to buy a motorcycle. To promote the growth of car industry as well as to offer an alternative delivery method to small business and shop owners, Keicar standards were created. In Japan, the cars feature yellow licence plates, earning them the name "yellow-plate cars" in English-speaking circles (black numbers on yellow background for private use and yellow numbers on black background for commercial use). The keicar field is very competitive, so that manufacturers are in a constant race to provide better performance, utility, and fun within the keicar regulations, driving the pace of technological innovation, which then spreads to the rest of their automobile line. As a result, keicars are available with turbocharged engines, automatic transmissions, continuously variable transmissions, front wheel drive, rear wheel drive, four wheel drive, hybrid drivetrains, air conditioning systems as well as navigation systems.

History and regulations

July 8, 1949: first regulations
* length: up to 2.8 m
* width: up to 1 m
* height: up to 2 m
* engine displacement: up to 150 cc (4-stroke), up to 100 cc; (2-stroke)
July 26 1950: major changes
* length: up to 3 m
* width: up to 1.3 m
* displacement: up to 300 cc; (4-stroke), up to 200 cc; (2-stroke)
August 16, 1951: minor changes
* displacement up to 360 cc; (4-stroke), up to 240 cc; (2 stroke)
April 4, 1955: minor changes
* no further differentiation between 2-stroke and 4-stroke: all up to 360 cc
January 1, 1976: major changes
* length: up to 3.2 m
* width: up to 1.4 m
* displacement: up to 550 cc
January 1, 1984: medium changes
* length: up to 3.4 m
* displacement: up to 660 cc
October 1, 1998: today's regulations
* length: 3.4 m or less
* width: 1.48 m or less
* height: 2 m or less
* displacement: up to 660 cc

Manufacturers of keicars

Daihatsu
Honda
Toyo Kogyo/Mazda
Mitsubishi Motors Corporation
Nissan
Smart
(the only non-Japanese company)
Fuji Heavy Industries/Subaru
Suzuki

Famous example cars

For details see the category for keicars.

Autozam AZ-1
(turbocharged sports car with gullwing doors)
Daihatsu Copen
(a convertible with a turbocharged engine, now sold in Europe)
Daihatsu Mira
, also known as Cuore (sold with some minor changes in Europe)
Honda Beat
(a convertible with a mid-mounted engine and rear wheel drive)
Mazda Carol
(The Carol's engine was the only four-cylinder in the 360 cc class)
Subaru R1
Suzuki Cappuccino
(also a convertible, was also sold in UK)
Suzuki Twin
(a hybrid vehicle)
Suzuki Wagon R
(sold with larger engines in Europe, also sold as the Opel Agila)

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Keicar ]

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