I’m a fan of the Smart, the fuel efficient European roadster that’s smaller than a Mini (see above). It’s coming to America, but indirectly and not without some complexity. Oddly, considering the current energy crisis and that buyers appear to be looking for more efficient vehicles now, there’s a lot of red tape involved with bringing efficient vehicles new or old to the US.

Take these Japanese K-Cars that get around 50 miles per gallon and can be imported and bought used for under $5000, but only in Canada. There’s a company importing small, efficient trucks, but only for farm-use in the US. In short, other than big trucks and expensive hybrids, all we have are pogo-sticks and mono-wheelers.

tags: coming to america, complexity, efficient, energy, energy crisis, fuel, fuel crisis, fuel efficient, fuel efficient car, fuel efficient cars, hybrid, miles per gallon, mini, mpg, prius, roadster, smart, transportation

Gizmodo reported it a while ago, but a Canadian company called Japanoid is importing these and other tiny Japanese cars. How tiny? At or under 1.5 meters (under 5 feet!) wide with engines 660CC or under. They’re called Kei Jidousha, or Keicars, or just K-cars (though not to be confused with Chrysler’s K-Cars). Japanoid has 12 vehicles listed, but my favorites are those four above and this funny looking truck.

The deal is, however, that Canadian law only allows imports of 15-year-old vehicles. There are other restrictions, of course, and all of it is made a little more ridiculous by the fact that the cars are right-side-drive. But at 50 miles per gallon, perhaps some exceptions can be made. But don’t expect US law to make any exceptions. US law only allows import of 25-year-old vehicles, even if they might help ease our fuel crisis.

US drivers might want to look at the SMART, available in the US soon.

tags: canadian law, economy car, economy cars, fuel economy, gizmodo, honda, honda acty, japanese cars, japanoid, k-car, k-cars, kei jidousha, keicars, mini, mitsubishi, mitsubishi minica toppo, nissan, nissan figaro, nissan pao, nissan s-cargo, smart, tiny