Can it compete with Japan's domestic Kei cars?https://cleantechnica.com/2025/11/04/chinas-direct-assault-on-japans-most-domestic-automotive-segment/
>>28704310Not in Japan. maybe australia because we're flooded by cheap chinese crapboxes
>>28704310not on 4chins. only kawaii nipmobiles get a pass around here.
>>28705397>Not in JapanWhy?
>>28705545Racism
>>28705825I think that racism is the only thing that saves domestic companies. The only danger is foreign workers like indians that may start to buy foreign cars because cheap.
>20kWh>63HP engine >Keitasha tax excepts and fee reductions The Hybrid is most likely far more interesting, but like the Nissan Sakura i can see it being au ultimate beater commuter vehicle. That said, I really really like the Kei car doors. I would wish they would port them to more useful models like the Firebird of the Seagull.
>>28704310>Can it compete with Japan's domestic Kei cars?But why? It's a Japan-specific car market. The reason that market is untouchable is because kei-cars don't make sense to sell new outside of Japan.What's next? BYD Tuk-tuk for India?
>>28706004Don't you want the 40% of the new car sales in Japan anon? That is a big pie.And its a bigger pie if it leads to further technology sales down the line.
>>28706004>Japan-specific car marketThat's a huge market though and still essentially free from foreign competition."Racco" is the Japanese word for "otter" so it's clear that BYD has no intention of selling it outside Japan.Also, there's a significant Chinese population in Japan.
>>28704310There is a singular N-Box model in their path. Mind you, japs themselves can't outcompete it.
>>28704310Probably not. Every single one of the top-selling kei cars, such as the Honda N-Box, Daihatsu Tanto and Suzuki Spacia are all not EVs, and offer no EV option. Most do have optional or standard turbo models, however. A few are hybrids, even.There have also been domestically-produced kei-EVs in Japan for a couple years now, such as the Mitsubishi eK X EV and Nissan Sakura. I might just be some gaijin fuck posting on here, but I don't see those models topping any of the sales charts for kei cars in Japan - which leads me to believe demand might not be all that high.
>>28706698>which leads me to believe demand might not be all that high.Why wouldn't it?Reason out the argument, and there is a genuine chance you might just stop at "insufficient mileage to allow the car decent use" or price. The question is then going to remain: Is 180km + 100kWh fast charging going to cut it?
>>28706746Kei cars have like 3l/100km gas mileage, theres literally no compelling reason to go electric in a kei car sector, especially considering how japanese tend to sell their cars after 2-3 years of usage and don't really rack up their mileage.
>>28706996And more normal cars are in the 5-6l/100km range. And in those ranges its still a option to buy a Tesla if you are planning on hitting 150k-200k km in its lifespan, or more.And I have seen A LOT of eGolf, Zoe and iMIEV as mileage beaters here, so I don't see why it would be different in Japan.In fact, its very different in Japan, because once you got Kei cars with decent interiors, its not very tempting to buy the slightly larger Honda Fit which is harder to get in and out of. The question then remains:Is this being built just to see if there is a market for it, or it being built to get going a factory line in case battery density is going to increase, meaning it could be a viable vehicle platform in 10-20 years?If the Sodium Ion actually materializes for commercial use, it would not be far fetched to see the Facelifted china otter with 300km.
>>28707486There is no real need to do groceries runs cause lawson is literally two minutes away from you, you commute to work by train and vehicles often leased and traded in before first or second shaken. So you get your first N-Box on a lease, trade it in for a better trim in 3 years. If you somehow managed to start a family you trade it in for an MPV like freed or noah.If you're racking up a lot of miles - you're probably doing it as your job, so its a fleet vehicle you don't own or your small business truck which won't be an EV for obvious reasons. And if you actually need to drive a lot outside of your job it means you're living somewhere in the boonies and you drive a cheap mild hybrid like fit or freed and pure EV is not in your consideration cause charging infrastructure is basically nonexistent. Again, with mild hybrid you're looking at something around 4l/100km so it's not like you're losing much on fuel. Mind you, japs only recently started to subsidize residential charging stations.
>>28708072>If you're racking up a lot of miles - you're probably doing it as your job, so its a fleet vehicle you don't own or your small business truck which won't be an EV for obvious reasons.?This almost reads like a logical fallacy Either you do the math on what the gas mileage cost, or you don't. After that it becomes a question about range, and little else. >charging infrastructureIts a wall socketIts 99% of what the vehicle will see, and little else
>>28707486>Sodium IonIs it another vaporware battery tech, like solid state?
>>28706698>I might just be some gaijin fuck posting on here, but I don't see those models topping any of the sales charts for kei cars in Japan - which leads me to believe demand might not be all that high.I'm also thinking that Chinese automakers ar having trouble exporting EVs so they're literally trying to dump them anywhere in the world instead of letting them rot in China.
>>28708930Why would they make a new model solely for the Japanese market?That's not dumping, it's just competition.
