The Rise of Kei Trucks: Why Americans Are Ditching Pickups for Tiny Japanese Trucks

A 1997 Suzuki Carry on a Pennsylvania dealer lot is tagged $7,250. The cheapest new Ford F-150 starts at $40,085. And for years, plenty of states wouldn't let you put a license plate on the little one. We put the two trucks head to head in four rounds: the price tag, the bed, fuel and resale, and the jobs where the F-150 still wins (towing, highway driving, and crash safety). The numbers come from Kelley Blue Book, Cox Automotive, IIHS, NHTSA, and NHK World-Japan's visit to Lancaster Mini Truck in Pennsylvania. Then the legal fight. After AAMVA guidance pushed states to turn kei trucks away, owners started calling their lawmakers. Texas wrote kei trucks into law in 2025 with Senate Bill 1816, Vermont followed in 2026, and New York is still saying no. Our first kei truck video, on how the bans started:    • Rural America Quietly Stopped Buying F-150...   Built in America investigates the corporate and regulatory decisions behind the decline of products that used to just work. No hype. No outrage for its own sake. Just the receipts. Enjoyed this one? More Built in America deep dives here:    / @builtinamericayt   SOURCES Kei truck prices, Lancaster Mini Truck sales, 78-inch bed, fuel estimate, 30,000+ shipped, ~30 states, New York — NHK World-Japan:    • Japan's 'Kei' trucks hitting U.S. roadsーNH...   F-150 prices, beds, fuel economy, towing, payload, 5-year costs, weight, safety rating — Kelley Blue Book: https://www.kbb.com/ford/f150/2026/ Average prices paid, August 2026 — Cox Automotive / Kelley Blue Book: https://www.coxautoinc.com/wp-content... Ford Maverick price — Cars.com: https://www.cars.com/articles/ford-ad... 25-year import exemption — eCFR, 49 CFR 591.5: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49... Minitruck crash test and NHTSA 2009 letter — IIHS: https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/low-... Vermont kei law, AAMVA guidance, state-by-state status — The Autopian: https://www.theautopian.com/vermont-b... Ford Courier history — The Autopian: https://www.theautopian.com/the-ford-... Mini Truck Day at the Vermont Statehouse — VTDigger: https://vtdigger.org/2026/04/03/mini-... Texas SB 1816, Lone Star Kei, Colorado — Motor1: https://www.motor1.com/news/760351/ne... Texas bill drafts, Massachusetts — The Drive: https://www.thedrive.com/news/texas-l... Texas DMV reversal and SB 1816 analysis — Texas Senate Research Center: https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/89R... Suzuki Carry payload and horsepower — Minitrucks.net: https://minitrucks.net/pages/suzuki-c... Import duty on kei trucks — Minitrucks.net: https://minitrucks.net/blogs/news/25-... Import duty on kei trucks — JDM Buy Sell: https://www.jdmbuysell.com/import-costs/