SLIDESHOW
Notable kei cars
Japan’s kei car class was created after WW2 for a country where space and parking was already at a premium, and by the early 1960s there was a raft of tiny vehicles on the market. Kei cars still exist, but over time their tax incentives have been watered down, and it might not be long before the segment disappears. Here are some of the class’s finest examples.
RICHARD DREDGE
Suzuki Cappuccino 1991
The Cappuccino is among the best-known kei cars here in the UK, because it was one of the few officially imported. It used a twin-cam, three-pot 660cc turbo engine, mounted up front to drive the back wheels. With light aluminium panels and 63bhp, the 700kg Cappuccino could deliver 0-62mph in 8sec and hit 93mph. When we road tested it in 1994, we admired its combination of technological sophistication, deft handling and wacky looks. It certainly was not the most practical of cars for the taller among us, but it delivered a huge amount of fun in a 3295mm-long package – although we couldn’t avoid noting that a slightly larger and pricier Mazda MX-5 would make more sense for most. Just over 1000 Cappuccinos were sold in the UK, and 180 or so remain on the road today. That’s a decent survival rate for cars that are around 30 years old.