Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

A couple of years ago Jake Morgan, a farmer who lives just outside Raleigh, in North Carolina, realised he needed a new vehicle to get around his property. At first he was looking at “side-by-sides”—a sort of off-road utility vehicle. But watching a review on YouTube of one that costs around $30,000 made by John Deere, he saw a comment that said something like “Why don’t you just get a minitruck instead?” That is, a tiny four-wheel drive pickup truck, sometimes known as a “Kei” truck, mostly made in Japan to take advantage of laws there which tax smaller vehicles less.

Intrigued, Mr Morgan started researching. Within a few months, he drove to Newport, Virginia to pick up a 1997 Honda Acty, having spent a total of just $2,000 on importing it. He was delighted. Not only was it “dirt cheap”, but the Acty is less than five feet wide, and so can get into tight spaces a normal pickup cannot, like Mr Morgan’s barn. And unlike a side-by-side, it can also be driven legally on local roads. “They’re amazingly useful,” he says. Not long after importing his first, he sold it and bought another. The new one is even better—it has air-conditioning and a button which activates a dumper.