A Matter of Size

Fiat Topolino, Honda N One, and Mini Cooper

There’s been a lot of discussion over the past few weeks about small cars — specifically, really, really small cars. Stellantis plans to bring the tiny Fiat Topolino to the US, and someone in Washington DC thinks Americans might like tiny Japanese kei cars. Unfortunately, that’s led to a lot of confusing and conflated discussions on the topic, so it seems like it might be appropriate to share some facts…

The Topolino is a reworked version of the **Citroen Ami, a quadricycle launched in Europe five years ago. Quadricycle is a , defined by limits in weight, power, and top speed. In fact, in some countries, you can drive one with a license as young as 14 years old. Because it is a legally defined product category, there are about a dozen competitors in that segment, including a couple of legacy automakers. Fiat would likely sell this here as a [Low Speed Vehicle](https://www.gemcar.com/low-speed-vehicles/)*, e.g., a really fancy golf cart, which is not entirely illogical. Stellantis notes this decision had nothing to do with the discussion around kei* cars, which I believe; I’ve seen the Topolino at several auto shows over the past two years, where I suspect Stellantis has been conducting consumer research.

In contrast, kei cars were **created by the Japanese government** in 1949 (!) to help promote vehicle ownership and to boost the automotive industry. They are defined by limits in length, width, height, and engine displacement, as well as a “gentleman’s agreement” about power and top speed. They account for about 40% of vehicle sales in Japan, and come in a variety of configurations, including hatchbacks, issue, vans, pickups, wagons, and even roadsters. Sales have largely been confined to Japan, although a small number have been exported over the years. Unfortunately, these vehicles fail to meet FMVSS safety requirements, so there’s no legal way to sell one here unless it’s over 25 years old-but several states still refuse to allow those vehicles to be registered.

The graphic below compares the Fiat Topolino with a typical kei car from Honda (that offers both gasoline and electric options) and the current Mini Cooper, one of the smallest hatchbacks currently sold in the US. It’s obvious we are looking at significant differences in capability and safety across all three vehicles.

Clearly, the Topolino is a non-starter on any sort of major (or even most minor) US roads due to the low top speed, on top of issues around the light weight and lack of safety equipment. The kei car is closer to a “real” car, but even then pales in comparison to the Mini in terms of capability. The idea that American consumers would open their wallets for these vehicles after Japanese automakers spent the required hundreds of millions of dollars to build these vehicles in the US is absurd.

That being said, I’d love to see more small cars for sale here in the US. We all know how often a car has only one passenger, and I’m certainly enjoying the time in my Mini Cooper as a daily driver. Unfortunately, reduced fuel economy requirements plus Americans’ general disdain for smaller vehicles seem to make that unlikely, at least in the short term. But I can dream, right?

Originally published at https://adambernard.substack.com.