A roll in the Sakura

JAMES ATTWOOD gets a glimpse of a future filled with tiny electric cars by driving Japan's best-selling EV, the Nissan Sakura

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Shortly after setting off from Nissan's global headquarters in Yokohoma, I pass a children's museum dedicated to the hugely popular cartoon character Anpanman, of whom there is an enormous statue outside. Yet somehow a superhero with a head made from a red bean paste-filled pastry isn't as cute as the car I'm driving.

That's because I'm behind the wheel of a Nissan Sakura, a tiny and boxy EV built to Japan's kei car regulations for affordable entry-level vehicles. And just like Anpanman, while kei cars are big in Japan, the rest of the world can only really look on in a mix of confusion and envy.

Which is a shame, because we can probably all agree that electric kei cars would be an ideal solution to offering affordable cars perfectly suited to our overcrowded roads. Renault Group boss Luca de Meo last year proposed the creation of an electric kei car-style class for Europe.

To recap, kei cars are a special class of vehicle in Japan designed to offer cost-effective motoring. First launched in the 1950s to boost the Japanese industry, kei cars are defined by strict technical regulations: they can be only 3.4 metres long, 1.5 metres wide and 2.0 metres high. Petrol versions are limited to 660cc, while an unofficial agreement among manufacturers limits power to 63bhp.