KEI CARS BIG IN JAPAN

Car weight has become a big issue with the rise of EVs, but Japanese kei cars have had the problem solved for years. They're lightweight, lovable and back in vogue, so here's our selection of the best ever made

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HONDA BEAT

HONDA fans revere the Beat as the final car to be signed off by company founder Soichiro Honda in 1991. That feels appropriate, given the Beat was much like Honda's first passenger car, the S500 of 1963: a tiny roadster.

It also gave kei car customers a kind of scaled-down NSX. The 656cc naturally aspirated three-cylinder makes the most incredible noise, partly on account of its 8,500rpm red line, and partly because each cylinder has its own throttle body to admit air and fuel. It's mid-engined too, which plays havoc with boot space, but makes the mad zebra-print interior more spacious than you'd expect.

"THE HONDA BEAT GAVE KEI CAR CUSTOMERS A KIND OF SCALED-DOWN NSX. THE 656CC ENGINE MAKES THE MOST INCREDIBLE NOISE"

HONDA S660

THE Daihatsu Copen kept the kei sports car flag flying after the Autozam AZ-1, Honda Beat and Suzuki Cappuccino left the market, but in 2015 Honda rejoined the fray with the S660. A spiritual successor to the Beat, the S660 was once again mid-engined, but this time used a targa-style roof arrangement and had a turbocharger to help its 658cc three-cylinder along.

While output is technically no more than the Beat's 63bhp, the turbo made all the difference to driveability. Where the Beat developed just 65Nm of torque at a 7,100rpm scream, the S660 had 104Nm at only 2,600rpm. You may notice the past tense there: unfortunately, the S660 disappeared in 2022 with no replacement, but thankfully there are still plenty to choose from if you're considering importing one.

AUTOZAM AZ-1