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What are ATV Mini Trucks?

Mini Trucks are small trucks from Japan and are very popular for off-road use in the U.S. The Mini Truck also known as the K Truck or Kei for Keitora originated in Japan in 1964 and is a class of vehicle in Japan which is a sub-compact class with engine displacement limited to 660cc which are anywhere from a two cylinder to four cylinder and start at 550cc.  In Japan they are used in all facets of everyday life, mini trucks can be seen from downtown Tokyo to remote villages.

There are several inherent advantages to these small vehicles, and the most obvious is their size, the compact size allows them to go almost anywhere, like small city streets, or narrow country roads through the rice fields. The second biggest advantage of these vehicles is that they have a low cost of ownership and have been engineered to provide years of heavy duty service.

Here in the U.S. ATV Mini Trucks are the ultimate utility vehicle for: Hunting, Fishing,  Hauling, Tree Services, Golf coarse, Airports, Factory's, Farms, Police, Pleasure, Trails, Nursery, Orchards, Zoo's, Parks, University & School grounds, Meter Maids, Cemetery's, Marinas, Campgrounds, Resorts, Lodges, Theme Parks, Storage Yards, Auto Dealerships, Salvage Yard, Stables, Construction Sites, Landscaping, Race Tracks, Ranches, etc.

ATV Truck Sales in Holly Michigan (see contact info below) import four wheel drive units for off road use because the import rules that they are imported under prohibits them from being used on our highways due to a lack of emission statements from the manufacturers or impact studies.

Some Differences in Japanese "K" or "Kei" class trucks are minimal, (the same only different)  but there are some differences between manufactures and year manufactured.

Suzuki  Mitsubishi  & Daihatsu/ have greater ground clearance with Mid Engines which are better for climbing hills, Honda & Subaru's have rear mounted engine which gives a softer ride.

Some of trucks at ATV Truck Sales may have air conditioning, dumping beds, locking diff or even a high/low range. 

In early 1990 mini trucks went from a 550cc motor to a 660cc motor, thus the 660cc are mid 1990 and newer and the 550cc mid 1990 and older.  Some trucks have a 5 speed manual trans while others have a 6 speed manual trans or some even come in with automatic transmissions but the majority of our trucks that come in we see a 6 speed manual trans.  All trucks have an instrument cluster just like you would see in your vehicles here in the U.S., windshield wipers, turn signals, lights, two seats, radio and most usually have tilt steering.

Typical uses, Mini trucks are designed to be workhorses for hauling heavy loads in extreme and adverse environments. Japan is a mountainous country and the Mini truck is primarily operated on the twisty hilly roads as well as the highways in Japan. Therefore Mini trucks come equipped with high-quality, high-performance engines, transmissions, brakes, and cooling systems to meet these requirements. Mini trucks are designed for comfort and ease of operation, these trucks must be able to do everything from hauling a load of rocks to rushing a delivery down a rural road or into
tight market areas.

Japanese "Kei Class" or "K Class" subcompact trucks are manufactured by the major Japanese auto makers that we are all familiar with & know to build strong reliable vehicles that hold their value.

Honda's model is the "ACTV",  Suzuki "Carry",  Daihatsu "Hijet", Mitsubishi "The Minicab" , Subaru "Sambar" and   Mazda's "Scram" which is manufactured by Suzuki is basiclly the same with  the Logo's being different and Daihatsu  is actually Toyota's Kei Class Division.  

As all of us here in the U.S. have realized over the years is these manufacturers have produced extremely reliable strong running products and the Mini Trucks are no different and make excellent sense for off-road needs here in the US.

Why are mini trucks so inexpensive?  Japan's emissions standards are extremely stringent, this means they must be well maintained so by the time the vehicle reaches 70,000 kilometers the registration fees & taxes become too expensive. Typically the owner had taken very good care of the vehicle and now has reached the point of buying a new one due to Registration costs and by the time they get to 100,000 Kilometers it is just to costly to register and has been used every day for daily deliveries much like our UPS trucks here in the states.  However, as with all the new vehicles sold in Japan it causes a high depreciation rate over the years and eventually Japanese owners will trade a perfectly good vehicle in for a new one, often with very low mileage.  ATV Truck Sales acquires a lot of 10-15 year old trucks with less than 100K on them in excellent condition,  which makes them ideal for overseas off road utility truck buyers.

About ATV Truck Sales

ATV Truck Sales is a family based business in Holly Michigan.  They sell stock, painted or camouflage off road utility mini trucks with accessories and parts with Nationwide shipping.