hatchbox

i like that mitsubishi badge on the grill too, looks so JDM. Maybe he has a 4G63 under the hood of that thing.

aznr1c3bo1

i think if gas prices go up then yes.

stellarhavoc

I thought K-Cars were lil cars that were cheap to buy and would "break down" so you'd hafta junk them after liek 6 years. I guess i was wrong :oops:

Yah i voted yes, because the US always likes something fresh.. and going small could very well be the next trend.

Or not...

hnefrdo

great point. the US will begin its own trend with cars that are larger than K cars but smaller than the average american compact. the engine will have a larger output. they will be up to US crash testing standards. ..just a thought.

Djuan

I would of thought that the U.S. was getting ready, especially since the Honda Fit looked like it was gonna make its way over, then the Nissan Cube, but then after seeing neither of them at the auto show... I'm starting to think that maybe its a little too soon to say...

Subcompact Culture

From what I understand, the Fit could make it's way over as a 2005 or 2006 – I think they're doing a redesign of it, first. Car and Driver reported that is was coming over, but not within a year.

To the person that made that remark that K-cars would increase if gas went up: I couldn't agree more. Good point.

George

I'm glad that someone would remember that Chrysler had K-cars way back when!

George

Scionic

I think it would be fun to one day have a Kei Car race or in the US....a Scion race. Think that would be pretty fun to watch or even participate in it.

DonSwier

Love the Mitsu badge on the Aires K-car!!

As many of you know, Chrysler offered two motors for the K's.... a 2.2ltr ripoff of the VW Rabbit mill ,.... and the 2.6 MCA Jet Mitsubishi four. To think those cars actually looked halfway decent when they were rolled out in late 1980 shows just how AWFUL the late 70's domestic cars were. Yuckkk!!!!

DarkMercury

Hmm are K cars the next big thing here in the US/North America? umm I have to say yes and no. First you have to understand why the K cars are big in Japan. It's a small country, which everyone knows, and the taxes on the larger cars. In Japan they have higher taxes on the larger cars and also higher taxes due to the fuel efficiancy and emissions. Plus with the majority of the market in Japan owned by the Japanese car makers, their markets aren't as open to our cars as most people assume. It's more expensive for our companies to market there due to importation and other red tape. Plus the majority of our cars do not cater to the Japanese culture, a few exceptions, the Jeep, Chevy Astro and few sports car collectibles. Will the K cars make it big here in North America, I say this so not to offend our Canadian brothers and sisters, I answer no. If we consider that the K cars are very tiny and low hp I say no they wouldn't make it into the North American market, if they did they'd fail, due to lack of power and safety issues. We seem to be a culture obsessed with power and size. Long ingrained into our minds by the automobile ads of the 40's and 50's. Why settle for a small car when you can have a grand tourer?! That's how it's been until the UK, Italian, Fiat/Alfa, and Japanese started selling on our shores. Sure we had small cars but they lacked style and flash as we like it. With the lack of reliability on the older European cars they eventually died out or only appealed to the loyalists and hobbyists. When the Japanese entered our market they sold well during the 70's gas crunch and also won people over for their reliablility. The Japanese mind set for company loyalty and pride can account for this. We'll never have a true K car market here in North America, but I think the current small cars, Mini, Kia Rio, Aveo, Scions Xa and Xb and if the Honda Jazz makes it here then that will be our K car market. I think they will do well. Many people want a good inexpensive first car, and with gas prices fluctuating this also makes influences on peoples purchases. I think the power ratio compared to the Japanese K car will not make it feasible for a dip below the 80 hp range. Frugal mileage is great but if you go at a snails pace it'll fail. The current Jazz has 83 hp and around 50 mpg. It got rave reviews in UK magazines, again a different market than ours due to culture, taxes and emissions. The current crop of small cars are good for city commutes and great first buys, especially for younger people on a budget and who are looking for reliablilty and a trustworthy name on their car. I think the Aveo has an uphill battle because small American cars have a stigma attached to them, plus the Geo name is still haunting them. I think we will have our version of the K car market but entirely different from the Japanese market. I say support the companies that offer you what you need and can afford. I think this can spur more cars in this segment of the market and hopefully more companies will give us more choices. Listening Nissan? Bring us the Nissan Micra/March! So in summation, no we won't have a K car market if you use Japanese standards but we'll have one entirely built to our tastes if things go well, and they seem to be moving into that direction. The more they sell, the more visibility they gain in the North American culture, who knows it might open more doors for even smaller cars... if your a fan of the K cars then you can hope.

KingLou

Ah.....DarkMercury-san........I see you have yet to master the ancient art of the paragraph.

I wanna see one of those K-cars on 20's with spinners.......and 16 switches, hopping down the street like a bunny rabbit................and subsequently falling to pieces. Then I'd laugh.......then I'd scratch my nuts a little...........then I'd laugh again...............then I'd go inside and take a nap, my day complete.

Anyway......if I wanted to drive around in a coffin.........I'd slap some wheels on a pine box.

KiL

NemoBronsky

a couple quick things

Aveo will have an uphill battle because its the size of my shoe and barely gets 25mpg-Wheres the economy behind that? I was going to purchase one before looking into the scion but decided not to when I found out it was designed by daewoo and saw the epa estimated mpg.

As far as "geo haunting gm" you must be crazy. geo prizm = toyota corrolla. and the 3 cylinder metro was almost impossible to kill, got over 40 mpg and was 10 times more reliable than any other american built compact. The only reason I bought a scion was because it was a toyota- similar to my first car which was a used geo that had gone through 3 previous owners then myself, and still runs to this day, it never gave me a problem and anyone that has owned a geo will tell you they were the shizot. sorry i'll go home now

2fixA

I'll protest the Geo Metro testimonial.. my g/f had hers all of 2 months before it died on her, and I don't just mean broke down an alternator, but everything broke down... either way, maybe others have had better luck with them, but Ashley didn't...

DeanCouchey

Just wanted to bring this up cause i think these will be a bigger hit when gas is 2.50 a gallon in Cali and 2 bucks a gallon every where else, yeah you have a big SUV but it takes 7.50 to get to work.
I kniow my girl and I are buying an xB cause of the gas milage, cool factor and the room it has. i would buy other cars if they came out here like they do in japan with AWD and or a turbo.

highend

Do "SmartCars" qualify as K-Cars (european versions, at least?) This site sez theyre coming to the us in 2004 -



It says they get an average of 60mpg (but they only have around a 4 gallon tank!) Crazy little cars...

http://www.smartstore.uk.com/index.html

Djuan

I can't wait for those to hit the market over here too, maybe now with gas so high people will trade in their SUV's for a smart car or two...

Mr_scion

how much????????

highend

on that website, they have different models from like $11,650 US dollars to over $18k US - seems kinda pricey, but who knows. I dunno how fast they go, but it says that they a "60 bhp turbo charged engine" , and it also has the shifters behind the steering wheel like someone was talking about in another thread today. gotta be easy to park these things!

Opr8r

bB's and Ist's definitely aren't Kei Cars, *BUT* Kei Cars are RAD. I'm actually looking for a Daihatsu HiJet similar to the one featured in MTV's Pimp My Ride. So if anyone knows where I can score one domestically, let me know!




Peace,
m@

PandaIst

I think K cars rock!....I agree with scionic (Mark) that we need to have a scion race, maybe at Willow Springs?!...damn i'd wanna participate in that fa sho!... :D :D