Nissan’s Japan-only Sakura is an £11k all-electric kei car for the masses

Top Gear has long argued that car and lawmakers alike should introduce the brilliant kei car regulations to Britain. Sold almost exclusively in Japan, kei cars need to be narrower than 1.5 metres and shorter than 3.4 metres. They also usually need an engine that’s no bigger than 660cc, although that particular rule doesn’t apply to Nissan’s latest creation. 

This is the Sakura – an all-electric kei car that’ll go on sale in its home country this summer.

Who needs a crossover or a full-size SUV in a city or a small UK village? What you really want is the dinky Sakura. It still seats four people with 107 litres of luggage space, has two massive screens inside (7.0-inches for the driver display and 9.0-inches for the infotainment) and costs from just £11,000 (1.78 million yen) after subsidies in Japan. Oh, and it’ll do 112 miles on a single charge.

The 20kWh battery can be fast-charged from the warning light to 80 per cent in 40 minutes, or plug it in overnight at home and it’ll be full in eight hours. 

The small electric motor produces 62bhp to comply with kei car regs, but that’s enough for an 81mph top speed, and Nissan reckons the low centre of gravity makes for ‘nimble handling’. There's also a huge amount of customisation options, with fifteen different body colour options or four two-tone looks.

Does this add weight to the argument that we should have kei cars on our shores?