Kei car is the smallest category of Japanese, expressway-legal motor vehicles. 'Kei' is diminutive for kei-jidōsha,, "light automobile" or "compact automobile". With restricted dimensions and engine specifications, owners benefit firstly from lower taxes and insurance rates which lead to a lower overall cost of ownership. And in most rural areas, importantly, they were also exempted from the general Japanese shako shōmeisho (車庫証明書) parking-space ownership requirement to legally buy a motor vehicle at all, as street parking is generally restricted in Japan. Japan's carmakers also make microvans and kei trucks within this legal category.
The Mitsubishi Eclipse is a sport compact car that was produced by Mitsubishi in four generations from 1989 until 2011. A convertible body style was added during the 1996 model year.
MIVEC (Mitsubishi Innovative Valve timing Electronic Control system) is the brand name of a variable valve timing (VVT) engine technology developed by Mitsubishi Motors. MIVEC, as with other similar systems, varies the timing of the intake and exhaust camshafts which increases the power and torque output over a broad engine speed range while also being able to help spool a turbocharger more quickly and accurately.
The Mitsubishi Sirius or 4G6/4D6 engine is the name of one of Mitsubishi Motors' four series of inline-four automobile engines, along with Astron, Orion, and Saturn.
The Mitsubishi Orion or 4G1 engine is a series of inline-four internal combustion engines introduced by Mitsubishi Motors in around 1977, along with the Astron, Sirius, and Saturn. It was first introduced in the Colt and Colt-derived models in 1978. Displacement ranges from 1.2 to 1.6 L.
The 6G7 series or Cyclone V6 engine is a series of V6 piston engines from Mitsubishi Motors. Five displacement variants were produced from 1986 to 2021, with both SOHC and DOHC, naturally aspirated and turbo charged layouts. While MIVEC variable valve timing has also been implemented in some versions the 2.5, 3.0, and 3.5 L versions were also available with gasoline direct injection. This engine has been the flagship powerplant of the company except when they briefly built a V8 in 1999–2001. The staple of their high-end sedans, it was given twin-turbos for the Mitsubishi GTO, and became the most powerful car ever built by the company at the time.
The Nissan A series of internal combustion gasoline engines have been used in Datsun, Nissan and Premier brand vehicles. Displacements of this four-stroke engine family ranged from 1.0-liter to 1.5-liter and have been produced from 1967 till 2009. It is a small-displacement four-cylinder straight engine. It uses a lightweight cast iron block and an aluminum cylinder head, with overhead valves actuated by pushrods.
The HR is a family of straight-3 12-valve and straight-4 16-valve automobile engines with continuously variable valve timing, involving development by Nissan and/or Renault, and also Mercedes-Benz in the case of the H5Ht/M282. The designation of H engine is used by Renault, and M28x by Mercedes-Benz, to classify the family. There are three basic specifications of engine involving variations in engine architecture, or all-new architecture, with 72.2 mm (2.84 in), 75.5 mm (2.97 in) and 78 mm (3.07 in) bore diameter.
The Smart Fortwo is a two-seater city car built by the Smart division of the Mercedes-Benz Group from 1998 to 2024. In its third generation, the Fortwo has a rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout and a one-box design.
The Smart Forfour is a city car (A-segment) marketed by Smart over two generations. The first generation was marketed in Europe from 2004 to 2006 with a front-engine configuration, sharing its platform with the Mitsubishi Colt. The second generation was marketed in Europe from 2014 after an eight-year hiatus, using rear-engine or rear electric motor configurations. It is based on the third-generation Renault Twingo, which also forms a basis for the third-generation Smart Fortwo. A battery electric version was marketed as the EQ Forfour beginning in 2018.
The Mitsubishi eK is a kei car series from Mitsubishi Motors, based on the long-running Minica, and first introduced on October 11, 2001. The "eK" name is an abbreviation for "excellent keijidōsha" and is meant to be pronounced "ee kay", a pun which sounds like the Japanese いい軽, meaning "good kei [car]".
The Mitsubishi 4A9 engine is the newest family range of all-alloy inline four-cylinder engines from Mitsubishi Motors, introduced in the 2004 version of their Mitsubishi Colt supermini, and built by DaimlerChrysler-owned MDC Power in Germany.
The Mitsubishi 4B1 engine is a range of all-alloy straight-4 piston engines built at Mitsubishi's Japanese "World Engine" powertrain plant in Shiga on the basis of the Global Engine Manufacturing Alliance (GEMA). Although the basic designs of the various engines are the same, their exact specifications are individually tailored for each partner. The cylinder block and other basic structural parts of the engine were jointly developed by the GEMA companies, but the intake and exhaust manifolds, the cylinder head's intake and exhaust ports, and other elements related to engine tuning were independently developed by Mitsubishi.
The Mitsubishi 6B3 engine is a range of all-alloy piston V6 engines developed by Mitsubishi Motors. Currently, only one engine has been developed, a 3.0 L (2,998 cc) V6 first introduced in the North American version of the second generation Mitsubishi Outlander which debuted in October 2006.
The Mitsubishi 4N1 engines are a family of all-alloy four-cylinder diesel engines developed by Mitsubishi Motors, produced at the company's powertrain facility in Kyoto, Japan for use in Mitsubishi's small to mid-sized global passenger cars.
Smart is a German automotive marque established in 1994. Smart Automobile Co., Ltd. is a joint venture established by Mercedes-Benz AG and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group in 2019 and aimed at producing Smart-badged cars in China to be marketed globally. The venture is headquartered in Ningbo. Originally, the marque was known for producing microcars and subcompacts, primarily the Fortwo and Forfour, at Smartville in Hambach, Moselle, France and in the Revoz plant. It now produces small battery electric vehicles at a manufacturing plant in China, with distribution, marketing and aftersales activities in Europe handled by smart Europe GmbH, which is headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany.
The M281 is a straight-three petrol engine produced by Mercedes-Benz since 2014.
The OM639 is a turbocharged inline-three diesel engine produced by Mercedes-Benz, in collaboration with Mitsubishi Motors.
NMKV Co., Ltd. is a joint venture company between Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. and Mitsubishi Motors in the Japanese market to design, develop, and manufacture kei cars under Nissan and Mitsubishi brands. The company currently produces Mitsubishi eK, Nissan Dayz, Mitsubishi eK Space and Nissan Roox for the domestic market. NMKV stands for Nissan Mitsubishi Kei Vehicle. Despite that, the abbreviation was never announced officially by the company.
The Suzuki K engine family is a series of automobile engines from Suzuki, introduced in 1994. Displacements range from 0.7 L to 1.5 L. All engines have aluminium cylinder blocks with three or four cylinders in-line. Cylinder heads have two overhead camshafts, driven by chain, and four valves per cylinder. Fuel is gasoline/petrol, metered by multipoint fuel injection or direct injection. Some variants are turbocharged.
