- Tiny Subaru kei truck on Bring a Trailer has four-wheel drive and a manual gearbox.
- It’s covered just 48,000 miles and was recently imported from Japan into America.
- Engine size was limited to 660 cc by Japanese kei regulations, should deliver 40 mpg.
As fuel prices climb and full-size pickups continue their march toward aircraft carrier dimensions, a tiny Japanese kei truck currently listed on Bring a Trailer is starting to look surprisingly appealing. Sure, it won’t tow your boat across three states, but it might just save you a fortune at the pump.
The truck in question is a 2001 Subaru Sambar, one of Japan’s legendary kei-class workhorses. Freshly imported to the US earlier this year, it combines a five-speed manual transmission, selectable four-wheel drive, and a microscopic 658cc four-cylinder engine that sounds more like lawn care equipment than something you’d expect to find in a pickup.
Related: Honda Refreshed The $11K Kei Car That Outsells Everything Else In Japan
While American buyers have spent decades supersizing their vehicles, Japan perfected the art of doing more with less. The kei truck formula prioritizes affordability, efficiency, and practicality over brute force, and though they don’t make sense in the US like they do in their home market, they’ve built a cult following with American enthusiasts.
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This particular Sambar looks like a solid example. It’s covered 77,000 km (48,000 miles), and comes equipped with fold-down bed sides, power steering, a selectable extra-low gear for tougher terrain and not much else. If you like your vehicles big on functionality and don’t care so much for frills, you’ll get along famously.
Trump’s Seal Of Approval
Last year, President Trump made headlines after returning from Japan with an unexpected appreciation for kei cars. Describing them as “really cute,” he questioned why Americans couldn’t buy more of these tiny vehicles and suggested regulators should make life easier for manufacturers interested in bringing them stateside.
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That’s almost certainly never going to happen. Kei vehicles still face significant US regulatory hurdles in terms of emissions and, most obviously, crash safety. And even if they were available, the appeal outside the enthusiast community would be appropriately small. We just can’t see most Americans embracing something that looks like it would fold up as easily as a noodle box in an altercation with a Silverado.
Would you actually trade your full-size pickup for this little Subaru? Probably not. But as a second vehicle, weekend runabout, or urban workhorse, the truck equivalent of a Vespa that should return 40 mpg, it’s difficult not to see the appeal.
You can find the listing here, where the high bid at the time of publishing sits at just $1,137 with no reserve and five days left.
