Honda's stepping-up their investment in their smallest Japanese models. Although Kei cars are virtually unknown to Americans, they account for a huge segment of the Japanese car market. High gasoline costs, motoring taxes and strange parking permit requirements have lead to the creation a car category whose engine displacement is capped at 0.66 liters (just slightly more than a 20oz bottle of soda). Honda has announced that they're spending ¥50 billion ($500m) to streamline production of these little buggers (production will be "almost the same as the current capacity"). A few years ago, Honda acquired a company to build Kei cars for them. So this huge investment is aimed at integrating that company into Honda's structure. Efficiency is the way to go when you're talking about cars with 50 horsepower.
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Gotta spend money to make money. Of course, in several parts of the world outside of the U.S., these kinds of cars flourish (or so I’m told).
Personally speaking though, I could not, and will not, ever purchase a car in this category (stateside example: smart ForTwo). Anything under 100hp is just inadequate to me. I can barely tolerate how slowly my old lady’s ’01 Civic accelerates.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s not like I’m a boy racer that needs to blast off the line like every stoplight is a 1/4 mile, but I would like at least enough power to keep up with general traffic.
Obviously, power is sacrificed for fuel economy, which is the point of these cars. However, I’d gladly pay more for gas.
I read an article today that said that the European manufacturers were also looking at even smaller cars too. At $8.50+ a gallon a car with a sub one liter engine might once again be quite important.
I owned an Autobianchi A112E back in the early 90s. It has a 900cc engine and did quite well. There was seating for 4 and still a bit of a cargo area big enough for a couple overnight bags. For a couple of people and folding the rear seats down there was plenty of space for cross country trips though this was not what the cars were built for.
I’d have to guess that acceleration was around 15 seconds to 100 kph and it would top out at around 80 miles per hour. It was a surprisingly good little car although none of it’s previous owners (all 30+ of them I’d guess) took very good care of it. Rust, cracks in the chassis, and worn suspension really doomed it.
Miss it and would like to have another even here in the USA.
The fact that most of these have the same weight as a cardboard box makes them a bit more entertaining to drive than the power numbers suggest.
Here’s Clarkson’s take.
.66 liters is 660cc, the size of most mid-sized motorcycle motors. Honda makes a lot of 650cc range motorcycles. So they certainly have the engineering experience at this scale. Can’t say that for most other car makers around the world.
KBW :
The fact that most of these have the same weight as a cardboard box makes them a bit more entertaining to drive than the power numbers suggest.
True. Makes perfect sense.
Now, I must be opitimizing your average American here, but I would not feel safe in a car that weighs so little.
I’m not saying they’re not safe, but in the daily American sea of huge trucks and (C)SUVs, I’d be terrified.
meocuchad :
I can barely tolerate how slowly my old lady’s ‘01 Civic accelerates.
I have never had a problem with my 05 Civic (MT). It no sports car, but with 112hp, it can still get out of its own way enough to be entertaining.
Honda’s current 658cc Kei engine does 52hp, 61lb-ft. The original Civic had 50hp, 59lb-ft (and was just a few inches too large to qualify as a Kei by today’s standards).
KBW :
I watched that video with a huge smile on my face. Those things are tiny and look like a hell of a lot of fun!
If I lived in Tokyo–or even NYC, I’d want something like this
KBW,
Thanks for that most amusing, yet informative video! Damn that looks fun!
The video was a hoot but I didn’t see any other Kei cars in traffic… (grin!)
I’ve got 115 HP in my VW Cabrio and it’s got plenty of zip. I wish the car was closer in weight to the mid-80s version (maybe 500 lbs lighter).
Maybe if gas keeps going up I’ll get serious about looking for an Autobianchi with 900cc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobianchi_A112
These cars make a heck of a lot more sense than an electric, especially if they get 60 mpg or more, which I suspect they do based on what the 1.0 L Mazda2 gets. In my brief search of the internet, I saw where one of the Honda Kei “cars” weighed 1,800 lbs. At that weight 50 to 60 hp and ft-lbs of torque should do just fine especially as a commuter car or for zipping around town, though you might want something bigger and more comfortable for long trips or something sportier to occasionally refresh your inner racer.
Busbodger :
That A112 is a sharp little car.
I’d love to see small cars embraced in the US. I’d like to see some concessions made to help make them more compelling (special lanes/HOV use maybe, parking preference in urban areas). I’d always have a vehicle capable of toting the whole family, but during my weekly commute I’d happly hoon my way to work in one of these little cars.
Ryan Knuckles :
I have never had a problem with my 05 Civic (MT). It no sports car, but with 112hp, it can still get out of its own way enough to be entertaining.
Not that you don’t already know, but Civics (and of course Hondas in general) shine much brighter with manual trannys than with slushboxes.
However, I’m unfortunately talking about the latter here, as my girl has almost no hand/eye corrdination.
It’s not quite painfully slow in acceleration, but more often than not, I’m yearning for moar powah when driving her car! Of course, that’s just me.
A micro car does make more sense to me than an electric. 52hp/ 1800 lbs is a better power to weight ratio than 36hp/ 2000lbs my father’s 58 bug had. He commuted 70+ miles a day in it for yrs.
thank goodness GM divested itself of a controlling interest in Suzuki. now they can concentrate on making kei pickups and suvs. small, urban versions of their current products weighing 4000 lbs (give or take) and averaging 20 mpg in the real world. (give or take).
crisis averted.
eh_political :
I know what you mean. Just imagine what would have happened had they imported the JDM Suzuki Swift and used it in lieu of the Aveo or as a sporty complement to the Aveo. I hear the JDM Swift is a sweet little car and I’m disappointed that we can’t get them here.
Anyway, it’s best GM got out of that situation while they could because they may have actually wound up with a desirable small car. The horror!
:D
Methodical. Persistent. Decisive.
Hmmm, sounds like Honda, eh?
As a US Citizen I wish I could same to the same for GM, Ford and Chrysler, but a whole lot of different descriptive words come to mind for the 2.8.