This month’s kei car is brought to you by Mitsubishi, also known as the sick man of Japanese carmakers. At least that’s what they have been looking like for the past couple of decades – this Minica takes us back to a sunnier time in Mitsubishi’s history, before the sickness set in. Though looking at it a bit closer, this Minica looks a bit peaky itself…
This Minica is a good illustration of why there are so few really old kei cars still around. This one looks like it was rescued and put back on the road recently, but it’s obviously seen better days. Thirty-year-old cars aren’t exactly rare here, but they’re nearly always meticulously preserved. This is not the first time I’ve seen an older kei with brand new plates and a scruffy body – not a thing that seem to happen with larger domestic classics or imports.
Another conundrum that some of you might have already noticed is that this car is not registered as a kei. It has white plates, so it’s registered as a normal car. Again, not the first time I’ve seen this with an older kei, but it’s unclear to me what the deal is with that exactly.
But let’s discuss what we do know, for a change. This is the 6th generation Minica, made between 1989 and 1993. The original Minica came out in 1962 and this 4-door Piace is a special anniversary edition for the nameplate.
The preceding generation made the switch to FWD and introduced the tall greenhouse design that this generation took to even greater heights. Styling became a bit less square, but the Minica still looked like an aquarium on wheels. The Autozam Carol, which came out the same year, looked infinitely bubblier and more modern. On the other hand, only the Minica had the “Lettuce” – a very interesting variant with one door for the driver and two doors on the other side. Not shown in the 1990 brochure above was a walkthrough van, the one member of this Minica range that can still be encountered occasionally.
Engine-wise, Mitsubishi were playing catch-up to the industry leaders (Suzuki and Daihatsu) and ditched the dated twin that the previous Minica still had in favour of the all-mighty triple. It was still stuck at 548cc in 1989, but was revised up to 657cc a year later when the kei regulations changed. Our feature car has (in theory) an evolution of this 3-cyl. with a DOHC head and five valves per cylinder providing 52hp. A 64hp turbocharged variant was also available, as was an AWD drivetrain.
As is common with kei cars, Mitsubishi made a staggering amount of these little things – over 780,000 units, to be precise. This does not include the 800cc version that was sold in Taiwan. Yet they have all but disappeared. Seriously – this is the first one I’ve seen in three years in this country.
With some exceptions, kei cars are seen as utterly disposable. Owners are urged to chuck them away through government incentives and regulations, so they tend to fade away from view after a couple of decades of use, replaced by a continual and steady stream of newer kei cars. That’s how the carmakers keep the lights on and how, despite churning out these little cars in huge numbers, very few survive. Finding this one parked exactly there was magnifique indeed!
Related post:
Curbside / Junkyard Classics: Somebody Likes Old Vans And Oddballs, by T87
Might fit in the trunk of my ’72 Imperial if you lay it on its side 😄😄😄😄
The rust streak down the driver’s door side is sad.
Well, 80s Mitsubishi…
The rear door openings look almost as large as a compact sedan. Neutral, Mazda-like styling.
I’m surprised the trick five valve head engine was barely mentioned. It’s a pretty neat piece of automotive history attached to this humble car. And the turbo versions were also the first turbo Kei cars made, which within the kei category was a trendsetting move.
Utterly disposable but guess where some of them went. thats right some have washed onto NZ shores, I guess the fuel economy is the attraction but I like a bit more car around me so no thanks Id rather have one of the numerous hybrid cars on our market to save on gas at least those can maintain 110kmh on the motorway and survive a fender bender.
I seem to be the outlier by for some reason liking Mitsubishis products, especially the older stuff, they are just a little different and sometimes seemed to provide nicer materials or interesting solutions or performance for the same dollar or yen or shekel or whatever than the more mainstream.
I’m not sure that I realize(d) the quantities that some kei cars are produced in. I know that producing a small car vs a large car isn’t that different as far as assembly time/cost, engineering or even material cost is concerned, but the variations or options still seem to be staggering and presumably these are profitable to build, so it makes one wonder exactly how much extra profit is in something larger. I mean, a larger wheel and tire costs more (and the tire is an external expense hurting the value add), but something like a turn signal stalk or brake pedal is basically the same on the lowest car and the priciest, a small hood isn’t likely to cost exactly half the price of a hood that is exactly twice the surface area and so on…Maybe you save on four headrests vs five or three doors vs four 🙂
That is Tokyo Olympic commemorative license plates that were available for a limited time (you can see a small logo on upper right). I was surprised to see so many Kei-car wearing those last time I went home in Japan. Apparently it became very popular among Kei-car owners in Japan because you can get white plates regardless (some don’t like those yellow plates). The usual Kei-car yellow plates version was not available, but still the car is registered as Kei class.
Lettuce? With three doors? Obviously. Japanese naming is fun….