Toyota Enters Japanese Kei Car Market With Pixis

Daihatsu is a minicar specialist under the umbrella of the greater Toyota Motor Co. empire. In the past, the arrangement was for Daihatsu to manage the Japanese domestic market "kei" minicar segment while leveraging on Toyota's resources. Daihatsu can tap onto Toyota's immense resources and the kei car segment will be Daihatsu's turf and Toyota would stay away, so to speak. In return, Daihatsu will also supply cars to Toyota, mainly to its overseas subsidiary / joint venture companies, especially in developing South East Asian markets. The Toyota Avanza (Daihatsu Xenia) and Toyota Rush (Daihatsu Terios) are two of such examples. That arrangement however changed in September 2010 when Toyota entered a minicar OEM agreement with Daihatsu. Under the agreement, Daihatsu will supply Toyota with 3 kei car models. In other words, the kei car segment is no longer exclusively Daihatsu's to play. The first of the 3 vehicles born out of this new agreement was recently announced by Toyota as the Toyota Pixis Space, essentially a rebadged Daihatsu Move Conte. The two remaining models are unknown but is rumoured to be the Hijet kei truck and Hiject Cargo kei van. Out of this arrangement, Toyota hopes to squeeze out 60,000 units of additional sales in Japan annually.

Below is the recently launched Toyota Pixis Space. The Pixis is Toyota's first kei car. There are two main variants, the standard Pixis Space and the Pixis Space Custom. Both cars look like a scaled down version of boxy looking Toyota's xB (Scion xB). The Pixis comes with 660cc engine with engine idle start-stop function, and has a fuel economy rating of 25.5 km/l tested under the Japanese 10-15 cycle.

Pixis Space X

Pixis Space Custom G

The Pixis Space is a rebadged version of Daihatsu Move Conte. The Move Conte is one of the two body styles available for the Japanese market Daihatsu Move.

Standard Daihatsu Move

Daihatsu Move Conte

Kei cars or kei vehicles is a specific vehicle taxation bracket outlined by Japanese regulations. The definition of kei vehicles is prescribed by the Japanese Road Transport Vehicle Act enforcement guidelines of the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. At present, the maximum specifications for kei vehicles are a length of 3.40m, width of 1.48m, height of 2.00m and a displacement of less than 660cc.

Since 2007, Daihatsu is the No.1 selling kei vehicle brand in Japan. Sales of kei vehicles in Japan is around 1.7 million units a year, making it the largest vehicle segment in the Japanese car market. Out of these, Daihatsu sells around 600,000 units of kei vehicles annually. Kei vehicles benefit from lower excise duty, lower insurance premiums as well as cheaper mandatory parking spot purchasing fee (compulsory for every new car purchase, rates differ from region to region) and lower weight tax. Added together, the financial incentive makes operating a kei car significantly lower than regular sized cars, thus explains their popularity.