01 / A field guide to 軽トラ
Small truck.
Big job.
Kei trucks are Japan's tiny work trucks: about 11 feet long, 660cc, and built to haul just about anything down a lane too narrow for anything bigger.
660
Engine limit, cc
11' 2"
Max length · 3.4 m
4' 10"
Max width · 1.48 m
770 lb
Typical bed load · 350 kg
Japan's kei-class limits since October 1998. Load shown as commonly rated.
02 / The basics
What is a kei truck?
A kei truck is a small pickup built to fit Japan's kei, or "light vehicle," class. The rules cap its size and engine, and in return owners pay less in tax and insurance. In Japan they're called keitora.
With length capped, nearly every kei truck seats the driver right over the front wheels. That cab-over layout leaves room for a bed about six feet long, with sides and a tailgate that fold down so you can load from three directions.
←— 11 ft 2 in —→
CAB-OVER · DROP-SIDE BED · 2WD OR 4WD · 3-CYLINDER
03 / A short history
Seventy-odd years.
One idea.
1949
Japan creates the kei vehicle class: small, affordable and cheap to run.
1959
The Kurogane Baby goes on sale, the first kei truck.
1976
The limits grow to 550cc and 3.2 meters long.
1990
Engines step up to 660cc, and length to 3.3 meters.
1998
Today's limits arrive: 3.4 meters long and 1.48 meters wide.
2026
Toyota announces the KEI-01, a kei-style truck to be assembled in Indiana.
04 / At work
Built for work.
Farms and harvests
Narrow enough for field roads and orchard rows, with a bed that drops open on three sides.
Hauling and building
Lumber, tools and materials, carried on a fraction of the fuel a full-size pickup burns.
Snow, mud and back roads
Many have four-wheel drive, and some add a low range and a diff lock for steep, slick ground.
05 / In the US
How they got here.
Kei trucks were never sold new in the United States. The ones you see here were imported once they turned 25, the age at which federal rules let a vehicle in without meeting US safety standards.
Whether you can drive one on public roads is up to each state, and the rules vary. Your state's motor vehicle agency has the final word.