After completing the post-war car design interpretation of the two camps in the United States and the Soviet Union, I deliberately added a phase of the European "old scooter" as a prelude to the Japanese K-Car special.
With an understanding of the European mini-car industry, we can better understand why the Japanese K-Car did not disappear with the demise of the European "old scooter", but instead moved towards the development direction of a cultural industry symbol.
Given the sheer variety of K-Cars in Japan, we're only going to talk about a few that are particularly interesting today, so we won't start with a lengthy chronicle model.
01
Why do Japanese people like trolleys?
It's not that I like cars, it's that this stuff is cheap and easy to use. Can sit on the big run, who opens suzuki, why not eat minced meat.
Usually we say that K-Car is also called Kei-Car, the Japanese "bicycle self-propelled car", which is the definition of the regulation in the "Rules for the Designation of Motor Vehicle Types" of the Ministry of Transport of Japan.
The "Rules" rule that there are four types of light automatic cars, small automatic cars, ordinary automatic cars, and special automatic cars, and the lowest K-Car light automatic cars can enjoy huge tax benefits, so they are popular.
After the war, Japan was poor, it was also middle-class, and it could afford motorcycles and cars, and K-Car was a product in between, the same as the old scooters in Europe. The Rule's positioning of the tax-advantaged K-Car is dynamically changing, from 360cc to the top before the oil crisis in the 1950s and mid-1970s, 550cc to the top from 1975 to 1990, and 660cc to the present.
From these three main displacements, we can tell from the name of the car which Japanese K-Car is produced.
Today's K-Car only needs to be under 3.4m in length, and the size is not too small.
At this time node in 2022, K-Car with a Japanese yellow card is still very suitable for use in rural Japan, with cheap prices, various tax benefits (but the tax increase in 2014), cheap insurance, low fuel consumption, flexible body, and no need for a parking space certificate to directly buy a license, which is an advantage.
In Japanese cities, considering the huge cost of using a car (mainly expensive parking fees), most people will not consider buying a K-Car, which is not cost-effective, except for a mini sports car like the Honda S660.
Many JDM fans in China like K-Car and feel that this small and fuel-efficient car is wasteful not to introduce it to the Chinese market on a large scale. I advise manufacturers not to listen to Chinese car fans and car critics bragging, if they really introduce, they will definitely be the previous "next time must be" perfunctory.
Because the proportion of parking spaces / motor vehicle ownership in Chinese cities is too low, a parking space here in Guangzhou sells for 500,000 is not a dream, the hourly rent can go to 16 yuan / hour, and it is difficult for K-Car with affordability as the core competitiveness to have sufficient living space.
Then some people have to ask, why does the Hongguang MINI EV sell so well? Simple, is cheap, 30,000 car price, no burning oil, tax exemption, no lottery, this commuting tool is used to replace motorcycles. If you are like me, you have to pay more than 10,000 urban parking fees every year, and do you still buy Hongguang MINI EV?
02
The most classical: 360cc industry forerunner
Subaru, Daihatsu, Honda, Mazda, Suzuki, Mitsubishi and other Japanese car companies are all participants in this 360cc war.
Let's start with Subaru, who called me a brain-dead fan? Subaru produced a full 392,000 Subaru 360 sedans in Gunma County, which is simply a miniature version of the German Volkswagen Beetle, and the rear-drive layout is simply pure blood.
When you thought Subaru would use a horizontally opposed engine, I had to pour cold water on you, which was a two-stroke twin-cylinder machine with a curb weight of 410kg, similar to the old European scooters of the same period. Like the old generation in Europe, Japan's post-war K-Car also likes to use FRP to create a relatively small force of the overlay, such as subaru 360 FRP doors and roofs in order to reduce weight and improve performance, purely want to save some steel, after all, the Western Europe and Japan that were penetrated by the Allies simply did not produce enough steel.
Although the di si, the Subaru 360 has changed many variants, such as station wagons, convertibles, minivans and so on. Personally, I like this police car the most.
Oh yes, the only design highlight of the Subaru 360 forgot to say - this thing uses a "suicide door", the same model as the Queen's Rolls-Royce.
Look at Daihatsu Fellow Max, also known as Daihatsu 360, there are variants of cars, pickups, vans, etc., and in 1969, there was even an oil to electricity. Because the engine is particularly small, the lightest version of the sedan is only 500kg. I personally like the Fallow Max SS with four lights in the picture below.
The most fun is the Buggy off-road version, which looks like this:
As for the more famous Honda N360, its front-facing layout was an extremely advanced masterpiece in the 60s. The N in the name, the full name is Norimono, which means "vehicle", and is used to distinguish it from Honda's own motorcycle products.
I prefer the van version in the picture below:
In 2012, Honda unveiled the N-One model, paying homage to the N360. I show you the 2021 N-One RS because it's more handsome.
Driving a Mazda today is generally not congested unless you drive the R360 from 60 years ago.
This thing only has a 356cc V-type twin-cylinder machine, and recently there have been overseas media to test drive a real car, I heard that it is hugely rotten, and I can only taste the feelings.
Suzuki's classic work in the 360cc era, I think the most cattle is the Jimny, the originator of the miniature hardcore off-road vehicle, the first four-wheel drive K-Car production car.
Take the original Jimny (LJ10) specifically because it has an interesting design. Due to its off-road positioning, the spare tire was indispensable (the tire technology of that era was very bad), but the outside of the car became a "small school bag" and was super long, which did not meet the size limits of K-Car's statutory tax preference policy, so Suzuki put it on the rear seat and changed a four-seater car to a three-seater.
03
The most urgent: various moths of the 550cc era
Auto companies especially hate the environmental protection of their mouths, and the Japanese government's emission regulations in the mid-1970s killed the enthusiasm of car companies for K-Car research and development, and the K-Car industry fell by 80% from 1970 to 1975.
Some small car companies, such as Suzuki, which has two-stroke engines in its entirety, simply can't sell K-Car with qualified emissions, and the new deal is simply to dismantle Suzuki's solid mini car experts. Another two-stroke enthusiast is Daihatsu, but fortunately, there is Toyota Dad to help, not necessarily too diaphragm.
Come and go, let's start with Subaru. The Subaru K-Car of this period was mainly a Rex model, although it was all rear-drive layout, but there was no inheritance in the interior and exterior design. Rex started with a two-stroke engine from the 360cc era, and later used a four-stroke engine from the 550cc era to raise the tide, which is environmentally friendly and environmentally friendly.
Rex is actually not much good-looking, there are two small features: one is the rearview mirror on the hood, which is not very JDM? The other is to offer a four-wheel drive version, where subaru genes come.
Subaru also has a sacred car called Sambar. If subaru 360 is a copycat Volkswagen Beetle, then Subaru Sambar is a copycat Volkswagen T1...
Sambar has completely experienced the 360cc era, and after entering the 550cc era, the following picture is like this, has this front face found a feeling? Like the first micro-noodles introduced in our country.
You see that 4WD four-wheel drive logo, cow bar, 550cc small micro-surface comes with four-wheel drive, Subaru forever god.
It would have looked even better if it had been changed to a fire truck. This size of the body is very suitable for navigating the alleys of Japan.
Looking at Suzuki again, its Cervo belongs to a more beautiful product, the second generation is a bit of a copycat Volkswagen Jetta MK2, the first generation is better. The author looked for a handsome photo for everyone to see, the hood rearview mirrors, skirt pulling flowers, roof luggage rack, are handsome and fried.
At that time, Suzuki Tou Iron continued to use a two-stroke structure to develop a new coupe K-Car model of the 550cc era, which actually complied with emission regulations.
Can't stand it, you look at this plaid seat, wood grain steering wheel, straight waist feature line...
The JDM models of that era were really good looking online.
Daihatsu here is nothing to look at, the following one is called Mira, the name is good, the car is ugly. No matter how fashionable the commercial is, driving a car is a "poor" word written on the face.
Until, the 1985 Mira Turbo TR-XX appeared, you see the red paint, the four-spoke wheels, the asymmetrical air intakes on the hood, the naughty roof antenna, this is called a car.
There is also a magical object called Suzuki Alto in this era, which is also the Japanese K-Car that Chinese consumers are most familiar with.
The original Otto SS30/SS40 has been mass-produced in Japan, New Zealand, Pakistan and other countries, which can be said to be a witness to JDM's globalization.
The author also found a photo of the third generation of Otto for everyone to see, because the official picture of this modified car is the most cute.
It seems to have missed an important car company, that is, Mitsubishi. Just say Minia, this is an old product that has been there since the 360cc era, the first use is a 359cc two-stroke air cooler, after the second generation began to have 546cc four-stroke machine available, the appearance in addition to the four round lights can not find any special design.
What is more funny is that in addition to a Minia, Mitsubishi also has a Miniab, which has more b letters, a larger size, and stronger device capabilities. Personally, I like the front face design of this front grille combined with the large round lamp, which is actually a work in 1976.
This car eventually gave birth to the famous Wuling Motors.
In addition, the Minicab family also produced an oil-to-electricity version in the early 70s, as shown below, and the front face wood has a soul.
04
The most popular: The most untouchable Heisei ABC in the 660cc era
The Japanese emperor has long studied the chinese emperor's era name notation, "Heisei", the era name of Emperor Akihito, used from 1989 to 2019. The "Heisei abandoned house" in Japanese culture refers to the lying young people of this period. Don't just look at the facts, the quality of life of Heisei abandoned houses is much higher than the average level of young people in China...
During the Heisei period, the three most famous K-Car field sports cars formed the "Heisei ABC" group - Mazda AZ-1, Honda Beat, suzuki Cappuccino.
Mazda Autozam brand should have friends have heard of it, at least seen the AZ-1 car. Autozam specializes in low-cost cars, and initially wanted to find some used car dealers and small and medium-sized repair shops to sell these cars, specializing in the low-price market. The survival time of this sub-brand is 1989-1998, which is the longest surviving time of Mazda sub-brand.
The AZ-1 is a purebred mid-range rear-drive sports car, and while the 657cc three-cylinder engine sounds weak, the original turbo is available
With the power stuck above the legal limit of 64PS, pushing the 720kg body is simply effortless. Best of all, it has gull wing doors!
The AZ-1 is the highest in Heisei ABC at 1.498 million yen, honda Beat at 1.389 million yen, and Suzuki Cappuccino at 1.458 million yen.
Unfortunately, the final production and sales of the AZ-1 are only a fraction of the latter two.
The Honda Beat was the last car that Honda founder Soichiro Honda personally supervised, and was handsome because it was designed by Sergio Pininfarina, the son of Pininfarina's founder.
As the king of Dongying's self-priming, Honda will certainly not install a turbine or increase the number of machines for this three-cylinder machine, directly pulling up the 8100rpm to obtain 64PS, and the electronic speed limit is 135kh/h.
Do the headlights feel familiar? Both the Civic and the Accord of that period were rectangular with a little curvature, and the H was placed at the end of the hood of the closed front face.
The follow-up to this mid-mounted rear-drive trott car is called the S660, as will be mentioned later.
In addition, Honda also has a motorcycle called Beat, don't get confused Ha.
Finally, let's talk about Suzuki Cappuccino, which is a lighter player than AE86 in "Head Text D", yes
The most provocative of the three cars. Looking at the lack of air intakes behind the doors, the Cappuccino uses a front-mounted engine rear-drive structure, so the cockpit is more rear than the A/B models, and the driver sits on the rear axle to drive.
But don't underestimate Cappuccino, this thing has a front double A-arm suspension and LSD rear difference, and now even the Black Heart 718 is not a good thing as standard.
In order to balance the counterweight, Suzuki even put the lead battery specially on the left side, in the Cappuccino owner self
When you drive alone, you can get a better left-right balance weight (right-hand drive car) - after all, the owner of this old fake sports car does not deserve a girlfriend.
05
Most familiar: Chinese old friend of K-Car
Most familiar: Chinese old friend of K-Car
This section has a lot of words, but it is easier to talk about, because we were poor at the time and did not have the money to do localization, so the design basically maintained the original version.
After China's reform and opening up, it began to introduce the automotive industry chain of automobile powers such as Europe, the United States and Japan, and the cheapest and most practical Japanese cars at that time were the most suitable for the Chinese market.
It is precisely because of the cheap, small, three-cylinder, simple and other labels of Japanese cars, for decades, subtly let Chinese consumers have a resistance psychology, China's economy in the WTO after more than ten years of take-off, consumers pocket more money, the automobile market presents the pursuit of luxury, the pursuit of large bodies, the pursuit of multi-cylinder high horsepower trend, the pursuit of large sofas, large screens and large skylights and other trends - the new forces are in accordance with this idea to build cars, so most of the new car companies are desperate to chase luxury large cars, On the contrary, the traditional car company Wuling has built a simple and cheap Hongguang MINI EV.
Let's talk about a few classic models, the first one must be the Big Dipper, because this broken thing actually resumed production!!! !!! of China VI Priced at 43,900/44,900, it's not too expensive. The previous suspension of production was due to the relocation of the production line from Jingdezhen City to Jiujiang City, and after debugging, it resumed production.
The prototype of the Big Dipper is the Suzuki Wagon R+, which was introduced to the Chinese market in 2001. Personally, I like this car very much, it is good-looking, easy to drive, cheap, reliable and fuel-efficient.
Another K-Car that I particularly like is Guihang Skylark, which is the work of Guizhou Aviation Industry Group in response to the call of the state to implement the "military to civilian".
The national automobile industry policy (in the field of cars) in the 1980s was "three large, three small and two micro", of which "three major" included FAW, second automobile and SAIC, "three small" included Tianqi, BAIC and Guangzhou Peugeot, and "two micro" said Guizhou Yunque and Changan Alto.
I like Skylark, on the one hand, because the name is particularly evocative and in line with K-Car status; on the other hand, it is
Because The Lark GHK-7060A (Figure 1 below) and GHK-7071 are based on Subaru Rex, the Skylark GHK-7070 (Figure 2 below) is based on Subaru Vivio. Subaru, the eternal god, does not accept rebuttals.
Unfortunately, Skylark has not been popular since its birth, and the sales ratio of Skylark and Otto in the Chinese market is 1:30, while the sales ratio of prototype Rex and Alto in the Japanese market is 10:2, and the best selling Subaru in theory is in China. After the bombing day, Guihang Skylark and Subaru joint venture, and finally withdrew dismally, Guihang Skylark sold itself as a young lotus in 2004. Yes, it is the infamous Big Pit Cargo Young Lotus.
"Two micro" refers to Skylark and Alto, and by the way, Changan Otto said.
"Down payment 18,000, Alto drove home", this advertising slogan can only be memorized by the older generation of car enthusiasts.
At that time, four Chinese companies introduced Suzuki Otto (CA71), namely Chang'an Alto (Chongqing), Jiangnan Alto (Xiangtan), Jiangbei Alto (Jilin), and Qinchuan Alto (Xi'an).
Chongqing Chang'an is now the big big Chang'an, the best mixed one; Xiangtan Jiangnan and Zotye reorganization, tape measure factory Zotye did not operate well on the direct closure; Jilin Jiangbei became Jilin Tongtian, was taken by Geely; Xi'an Qinchuan This is great, it was acquired by the battery factory BYD, and now it has become China's largest new energy passenger car manufacturing plant.
Friends, Mo Xiao teenager is poor.
Otto's design interpretation is not easy to write, too simple, low-cost practicality is the mainstay. Finally, let's put two pictures, one is the 1997 Changan Suzuki CRC racing car, the other is the Changan Otto "Happy Prince" (personal favorite), and its prototype is the 1986 version of the Otto Works CC72.
In addition to cars, I would also like to say that this is the king of sales, and the time occurred before Otto.
Changan introduced two models of Suzuki through the Canton Fair in the 1980s, and in 1984, the cooperation was officially realized in the vehicle and engine projects, and Changan SC112 micro truck and SC110 micro-goods rolled off the production line.
After Chang'an, Changhe (Changhe Aircraft Factory), Hafei (Harbin Aircraft Factory), and Jilin Automobile also got the technical and project cooperation of Suzuki Microface.
I put a photo of the Suzuki Every prototype car (picture 1 below) and a photo of the Suzuki Carry prototype car (picture 2 below), did you find the inner taste? Think of Chang'an Star Microface (SC6330), Changhe Microface (CH1010), Hafei Songhuajiang Microface, Jilin Microface (110CE)?
Everyone is also familiar with the sixth generation of Daihatsu Hijet 850, which was introduced into Tianjin in the form of CKD, so it is also called "Tianjin Daihatsu".
Daihatsu became the most eye-catching landscape on the streets of that era, a "little yellow car".
Since it comes to mini cars, how can we not talk about Liuzhou Wuling's "people's automobile factory"?
After the development of the Wuling LZ110 mini truck in 1982, Liuzhou Tractor Factory was renamed Liuzhou Mini Car Factory in 1985.
The following picture is the Wuling LZ110 microcar series derived from Mitsubishi Miniab. Including the name/logo of Wuling, it is "borrowed" from Mitsubishi.
Who would have thought that now Wuling is a mess, but Mitsubishi is a car company that is getting weaker and thinner.
In addition, there are some funny old K-Car works in China, such as the BYD F0 of the copycat Toyota Aygo. The author does not put the F0 picture, directly to a Toyota Aygo prototype photo.
That's it.
Anyway, the old K-Car introduced into China will only be left with micro-surfaces and micro-trucks in the battle, and then the Chinese K-Car market will be dominated by cheap pure electric vehicles, and will further annex the illegal market of old scooters.
06
Favorite: Honda S660 must be a favorite
Finally, let's talk about three cars, which belong to my favorite, of which S660 is the "favorite of the favorites".
The first is the Honda N-Van, the current K-Car car-making intelligent integrated, with terrible loading capacity.
Previously, the Midget I generation product was a tricycle, which began to be produced in 1957, similar to the Thai tutu car; the second generation project has been exported to Western countries, and the second-hand price of this 660cc industrial waste can actually be sold to about fifteen thousand yuan, which can only be said to be rare and expensive.
Driving this car to work, the return rate is 100%.
The last one is the Honda S660, the most invincible K-Car in my eyes, and I especially want to buy it.
However, the S660 was officially discontinued in March this year.
This is the cheapest, most fun, and best quality mid-mounted rear-drive cabriolet we've ever been able to buy.
It's a super condensed MR supercar.
Final words: Thinking about today's Chinese economy from the Heisei era in Japan
07
Final words: Thinking about today's Chinese economy from the Heisei era in Japan
The economic development model in East Asia and the international division of labor system are actually very similar, and it may be inevitable that we will follow The old japanese path, but our landing method is not so hard.
After land reform, baby boom, and the initial stage of industrialization, the demographic dividend has become a turbocharger for economic growth, and national income, savings, and consumption have increased significantly, and the next step is to seek opportunities to achieve industrial upgrading.
Japan upgraded during the first oil crisis, China now hopes to achieve an upgrade in the era of industrialization 4.0, and the United States began to suppress Chinese companies in the Trump era is a typical anti-escalation method.
Around 2010, China began phasing out labor-intensive, low-end light industries that had developed for three decades. Upgrade or die.
This period is also the most serious crazy period of irrigation in China's property market, because the money printed in China needs to find a place to absorb water, and the sponges that several big prints of money are all in the property market, anyway, the local government is willing. Real estate has become the most important source of tax in the local area, and we have seen a significant increase in urban infrastructure and citizen welfare in the past decade, which requires this stable and huge tax source.
After joining the WTO, China achieved economic take-off by relying on the secondary industry and international trade. In the golden decade from 2006 to 2015, China's GDP soared from $2.75 trillion to $11 trillion, with GDP as a share of the global economy changing dramatically by 1% every year.
Now the US/China/EU without the UK, the GDP of the three has formed a three-legged stand. In this chaotic war between Russia and Ukraine, on the one hand, the United States harvested the European Union and wanted to completely crush the hope of European rejuvenation, on the other hand, it clearly stated the idea that "only China is my biggest enemy", and did not fall into the quagmire of Europe, and the focus continued to focus on East Asia.
It was right to look at East Asia, because from the mid-1970s to the late 1980s, booming Japanese industry had caused the United States to suffer and unemployment in the United States had soared, so the United States needed to harvest a wave of Japanese economic gains with monetary weapons. In Japan after the Plaza Accord, the yen's appreciation exports were blocked, the external cycle did not work, the internal cycle went up, the benchmark interest rate fell, and the excess liquidity led to the domestic property market and stock market bubbles in Japan blowing bigger and bigger, and finally ended in the lying flat type of "Heisei abandoned house".
The "Heisei Abandoned House" and the "K-Car Industry 660cc Era" occurred almost simultaneously. The K-Car, once thought to need to be phased out, played a huge role in the era of economic austerity, and the domestic JDM market in Japan maintained sales of millions of K-Cars all year round.
Factors such as insufficient employment opportunities, rising incomes, and rising prices have made Japanese households spending tightly, and K-Car, which has a lower tax burden, is obviously the best choice for non-first-tier city families. Why do K-Car mini cars such as Hongguang MINI EV, Changan E-Star, and Chery QQ Ice Cream have a market in China? Because there is sufficient consumer demand, and most of the demand is generated in non-first-tier cities where parking fees have not yet flown.
The author does not dare to say that China will continue along this old road of being harvested by US imperialism, and our country is also trying to avoid this generation of young people from discovering that "no longer proud of labor" is actually correct and comfortable, but the objective facts make us get closer and closer along this terrible result, and the country has also found signs that class contradictions have begun to turn from cold to hot.
Unlike our parents' generation, they have few ways to make money, but there are many opportunities; our generation has many ways to make money, even in online classes to learn a craft, but the opportunities are very few, young people call it "inner volume".
This word, partly correct, is now a bit crooked in the meaning of the network.
The COVID-19 pandemic is not the root cause of the heisei house abandonment phenomenon, it just slightly advances this phenomenon that must come.
Of all the economic crises, "stagflation" is the most difficult to deal with, because soaring prices are accompanied by soaring unemployment, and social strata with low economic resilience will be wiped out.
Turning to the history books, we will find that in many economic crises, a large number of rich people can always be produced, and the bottom will be miserable. Now sandwiched in the middle, there is no money in the pocket of the small middle class that had hoped to upgrade the consumption before, and can only retreat to buy a more entry-level model, and the K-Car class car is a very suitable choice.
Because of the economic take-off and effectiveness of the fight against the epidemic in recent years, the cultural self-confidence of the Chinese has increased a lot, and the Chinese market has begun to accept the car again, and electrification is the best historical opportunity for the development of Chinese-style K-Car micro passenger cars.
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