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President Donald Trump has a plan to make Kei cars great again. Trump, in a briefing with\u00a0reporters announcing the rollback of fuel economy standards, expressed his admiration for the bite-sized vehicles he saw during a recent trip to Japan, calling them “really cute”\u2014and he wants them built and sold in America. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trump compared the cars to “how the Beetle used to be,”\u00a0but added “you’re not allowed to build them, and I’ve authorized the Secretary [of Transportation]\u00a0to immediately approve the production of those cars.”\u00a0Kei cars are a type of Japanese vehicle with strict engine, size, and power limits that are, arguably, too small for the majority of American buyers. That said, they do have a following here<\/a>. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n “He gave me the directive to clear the regulations on this, to which we have,”\u00a0said Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, “So, if Toyota or any other company wants to make smaller, more affordable cars, fuel efficient<\/a> [sic], we have cleared the deck so they can make them in America and sell them in America.”\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Which federal regulations Duffy plans to change in order to bring Kei car production to the United States remains unclear. The biggest hurdle to owning a new Kei car in the United States is the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards<\/a>. Still, plenty of American companies already build vehicles that don’t meet these regulations, like track-only models. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n