Photo: Honda
Those of you with a fetish for kei cars know Japan is the realm of these small, almost cute vehicles. Even more than that, Honda just proved a kei car can be successful.
We're talking about the Honda S660 kei sportscar, a four-wheeled toy the size of a Fiat 500 with a price tag of 1,980,000 yen or roughly $16,500.
Why was it successful? According to Bloomberg, Honda managed to sell all the 8,600 S660 models allocated this year for the Japanese market, but that's not all we had to announce.
Hear this out: four in five clients of the petite roadster are over 40. We have a theory for this: the Honda S660 is so much fun and at the same time friendly with the driver that older dudes have a blast in it, or it's boring as watching the grass grow.
We incline to think it's the first one, but let's put things into perspective. When Honda launched the S2000 back in 1999, only one in five buyers were over 40 years of age. So something must have happened in the process, but we're not sure what.
According to the same source, Honda has a significant obstacle to jump as they need to find ways of attracting the younger clientele. Officials claim they expected the S660 to attract older buyers, but are confident the young buyers percentage will go up in the future.
In any case, Honda will reopen order books for the S660 roadster in October when customers will be (again) able to buy the smallest mid-engined car currently in production.
It uses a 3-cylinder DOHC 0.66-liter turbo mill that produces 64 horsepower and can take the rpm needle up to the 7,700 mark. Also, a maximum torque of 104 Nm is delivered at 2,600 rpm. These resources are sent to the rear axle through either a 6-speed manual transmission or via a CVT gearbox that simulates seven forward speeds.
Why was it successful? According to Bloomberg, Honda managed to sell all the 8,600 S660 models allocated this year for the Japanese market, but that's not all we had to announce.
Hear this out: four in five clients of the petite roadster are over 40. We have a theory for this: the Honda S660 is so much fun and at the same time friendly with the driver that older dudes have a blast in it, or it's boring as watching the grass grow.
We incline to think it's the first one, but let's put things into perspective. When Honda launched the S2000 back in 1999, only one in five buyers were over 40 years of age. So something must have happened in the process, but we're not sure what.
According to the same source, Honda has a significant obstacle to jump as they need to find ways of attracting the younger clientele. Officials claim they expected the S660 to attract older buyers, but are confident the young buyers percentage will go up in the future.
In any case, Honda will reopen order books for the S660 roadster in October when customers will be (again) able to buy the smallest mid-engined car currently in production.
It uses a 3-cylinder DOHC 0.66-liter turbo mill that produces 64 horsepower and can take the rpm needle up to the 7,700 mark. Also, a maximum torque of 104 Nm is delivered at 2,600 rpm. These resources are sent to the rear axle through either a 6-speed manual transmission or via a CVT gearbox that simulates seven forward speeds.
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