Toyota said on Tuesday it would bring tiny KEI trucks to the American market next year, after President Donald Trump backed Japan’s mini-vehicles as the “cars of the very near future.”
The KEI-01 ultra-compact utility truck, which has a 660 cc three-cylinder engine, four-wheel drive, and a maximum speed of just 25 miles per hour, will be assembled at Toyota’s plant near Evansville, Indiana.
The right-hand drive trucks are just over 11 feet long and just under 5 feet wide.
Toyota has suggested they would be ideal for small business owners and delivery fleets in cities, as well as farmers and ranchers, and for use on college campuses or corporate compounds.
A third of the 3.7 million new cars sold in Japan in 2025 are so-called kei cars—short for kei-jidosha, which means “light vehicles”—which first became popular in the 1940s and 1950s as an economical means of transport in Japan’s crowded cities.
“Assembly at Toyota Indiana represents the company’s continued commitment to investing in the U.S. and American jobs, Toyota Motor North America (TMNA) said in a statement on Tuesday.
“The investment will establish new vehicle assembly operations and upgrade production and logistics infrastructure, bringing this unique utility vehicle closer to U.S. customers,” it said.
TMNA said the KEI-01 would be sold under a new brand, Scion by Toyota, which it said was “built around curiosity, possibility and the freedom to explore mobility in new ways.”
The company said Scion’s KEI-01 would arrive in the United States market in the second half of 2027.
The move appears to have the approval of the Trump administration.
“I have just approved TINY CARS to be built in America,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Dec. 5, 2025. “Manufacturers have long wanted to do this, just like they are so successfully built in other countries.”
“They can be propelled by gasoline, electric, or hybrid,” Trump said. “These cars of the very near future are inexpensive, safe, fuel efficient and, quite simply, AMAZING!!! START BUILDING THEM NOW!”
Toyota said it was investing $34 million in the project, which would create 50 jobs.
An undated image of Toyota’s Scion KEI-01 ultra-compact utility truck at an undisclosed location. (Toyota Motor North America)
SxS Concept is described by Toyota as an all-terrain vehicle “for a new generation of outdoor enthusiasts.”
It was developed by Toyota’s North American engineering team and is powered by a turbocharged four-cylinder hybrid powertrain, which can produce more than 300 horsepower.
The SxS Concept was first shown at the 2025 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The BKE Concept is a collapsible electric bike that can be folded in about 30 seconds.
“The future of mobility will not be defined by one vehicle, one technology or one way of thinking,” Simon Humphries, Toyota’s Chief Branding Officer, said. “Scion by Toyota gives us a place to challenge conventional thinking, explore new possibilities and create mobility in new ways.”
In March, Toyota announced it was investing $1 billion across its operations in Indiana and Kentucky.
It said it was part of up to $10 billion worth of investment that it planned in the United States in the next five years.
“Toyota’s investment in the United States is for the long term, tied to our philosophy of building where we sell and buying where we build,” TMNA’s chief operating officer, Mark Templin, said at the time.
“We have created a tremendous value chain for nearly 70 years. Our teams have contributed to world-class design, engineering, and assembly of more than 35 million cars and trucks for our customers in the United States.”
Reuters contributed to this report.
