Scion Is Back, and Its First Model Is a 25-mph Kei Truck Built in Indiana
The KEI-01 pairs a 660cc three-cylinder with standard 4WD and a 600-pound payload. It arrives in late 2027 as a fleet-only, 25-mph low-speed vehicle.
Scion is back, and it's skipping the hatchbacks. Toyota Motor North America has revived the brand it folded in 2016 as Scion by Toyota, and the first product is the KEI-01, a Japanese-style kei truck that will be assembled in Indiana and reach U.S. buyers in the second half of 2027.
The catch is speed. The KEI-01 is built to federal low-speed vehicle rules and tops out at 25 mph, so it's a tool for farms, campuses, and job sites, not a commuter. It also keeps right-hand drive. Anyone who needs a small Toyota pickup for the highway is still looking at the Tacoma, and how the Tacoma compares with the Ford Ranger hasn't changed.
What the KEI-01 is
Toyota says power comes from a 660cc three-cylinder engine paired with a CVT. Four-wheel drive is standard, with an auto mode and a push-button lock. The company hasn't published horsepower, torque, or curb weight.
The truck is just over 11 feet long and less than 5 feet wide. Its bed drops on three sides for low-height loading and carries up to 600 pounds. Toyota says the structure can pull small trailers but hasn't given a tow rating.
The extended cab has a raised roof, reclining and sliding seats, storage space behind them, and heat and air conditioning.
Toyota's announcement doesn't name a donor vehicle, but The Drive and Jalopnik identify the KEI-01 as a rebadged version of the Japanese-market Toyota Pixis Truck, which Daihatsu sells as the Hijet.
Why the 25-mph limit matters
Federal rules define a low-speed vehicle as a four-wheeled vehicle with a top speed between 20 and 25 mph. Instead of the crash standards a full-size pickup has to pass, it needs a short list of equipment under FMVSS No. 500, including lights, mirrors, a windshield, and seat belts. That's the route that lets a right-hand-drive kei truck get federal certification as a new vehicle.
Until now, Americans who wanted a kei truck had to import one at least 25 years old, which federal law exempts from current safety standards. Whether those trucks can be registered for the road depends on the state. The KEI-01 avoids the age rule but takes on LSV limits instead: many states keep low-speed vehicles off roads posted above 35 mph.
Fleets first, retail maybe
Sales start as a fleet pilot through a group of existing Toyota dealers that will carry the Scion by Toyota name. Toyota is targeting small businesses, farms and ranches, municipalities, university and corporate campuses, and delivery companies. Limited retail sales could follow, depending on demand. Pricing and production volume haven't been announced.
Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana gets a $34 million investment and about 50 new jobs to build the truck. The announcement comes days after Mark Templin was named to lead Toyota's North American business.
The original Scion was a U.S.-only youth brand that ran from 2003 until Toyota shut it down in 2016 and moved models such as the FR-S and iM into the Toyota lineup. The new Scion is pitched as an experimental lab instead, and Automotive News reports that Toyota's engineers in Ann Arbor, Michigan, have set up a skunkworks to develop ideas for it.
Two concepts show how wide that brief could get. The SxS Concept, a side-by-side first shown at SEMA in 2025, uses a turbocharged four-cylinder hybrid with more than 300 hp and an electric-only Silent Mode. The BKE Concept is a compact personal-mobility vehicle, and Toyota gave no specs for it. Neither concept has a production plan.
It's another small, unusual product from a company that also detailed the GR Kart for Japan this fall. The KEI-01 is the only Scion model with a sales date so far.
