Tiny cars with big appeal: Mazda's Kei car history

Monday, 10 August 2020

Mazda celebrates its 100th birthday with a series of cars paying tribute to its very first - the tiny R360 Kei car.

Kei cars are awesome, can we all just accept that?

The tiny Kei car class was introduced by the Japanese government in 1949. Short for ‘Keijidosha’, meaning ‘light automobile’, Kei class microcars had to fit within tight dimension regulations, and have an engine no bigger than 660cc.

Things have loosened up in terms of dimensions and engines in the years since, but they still remain a tiny, fantastically quirky automotive anomaly that is almost entirely exclusive to Japan.

The Autozam AZ-1 packed supercar looks and attitude into a tiny, adorable package.

As part of its 100th birthday celebrations this year, Mazda has been looking back at its past with a series of releases focussing on the various segments and cars it has produced, and today it is time to celebrate its history of Kei cars, including one of the most adored and legendary Kei cars of them all – the Autozam AZ-1.

**READ MORE:

Yes, there was a ‘hot’ Mazdaspeed version of the AZ-1 with no more power, but check out that wing.

* Mitsubishi eK microcar named RJC Car of the Year in Japan

* The five stars of the Tokyo motor show

Mazda’s very first car was the tiny R360 that was built to Kei specifications in 1960.

* Bad cars can be great fun… and good for your driving

* Five Japanese Kei cars we need here

Yes, it really could fit four adults inside. No-one said anything about it being an easy fit though.

The AZ-1 was a miniature mid-engine rear-wheel drive sports car with gullwing doors, it had all the visual and layout ingredients you’d expect of a supercar shrunk into a car that weighed just 720kg.

The Carol’s longer wheelbase added more interior space, despite being roughly the same legnth as the R360.

Produced from 1992 to 1994, the AZ-1 was powered by a 657cc Suzuki engine and was priced below the MX-5 to offer a “unique baby sports car choice for Japanese drivers.”

Awesomely, there was even a Mazdaspeed version with alloy wheels, a bodykit with a big wing, sportier suspension and a sports exhaust and air filter.

The Mazda Chantez could only ever have come from the 1970s.

Mazda only sold built the AZ-1 for two years and in very limited numbers and today it is one of the rarest and most sought-after Kei sports cars.

But while the AZ-1 was Mazda’s most famous Kei car, it certainly wasn’t its first. In fact, Mazda’s very first passenger car – the R360 – was built to the diminutive Kei regulations.

The relaunched Carol was, in fact, a Suzuki Alto wearing an Autozam badge.

Despite being less than three metres long, the R360 could seat four adults and featured lightweight construction and clever engine technology.

At just 380kg the R360 was the lightest car in what was a very light class, while its fuel-efficient four-stroke engine was quieter, cleaner and more flexible than competitors’ two-strokes.

It was available with an automatic transmission and had four-wheel independent suspension. Being both affordable and good to drive, it dominated the segment from the day of its launch, selling 4,500 cars on its first day on sale in May 1960 before going on to capture 15 per cent of the domestic Japanese car market that year.

The success of the Mazda R360 meant that it remained on sale in Japan until 1969, but by then Mazda had launched its next small car: the Mazda Carol.

Launched in 1962, first as a two-door and then as what Mazda likes to call “the world’s tiniest four-door saloon”, the Carol was powered by one of the smallest four-cylinder car engines in history – a tiny 359cc water-cooled inline four that produced a whopping 13kW of power.

Although similar in length to the R360, the Carol’s longer wheelbase and inverted rear window offered better cabin space and its sturdy monocoque body and four-wheel independent suspension made for an unexpectedly comfortable ride.

Much like the R360, the Carol was an instant hit in Japan, quickly scooping up close to a 70 per cent share of the country’s microcar segment in 1962.

Mazda’s obvious dominance in the Kei car segment meant that even as it expanded to develop and sell larger cars for global export, it continued to build Kei cars for the domestic market and while original Mazda Carol remained on sale until 1970, in 1972 the Mazda Chantez was launched.

A tiny modern looking hatchback, the Chantez’s “wheel at each corner” stance allowed for a compact two door four seat layout, while the 359cc engine powered the rear wheels.

Originally Mazda had intended to power the Chantez with a single-rotor rotary engine, but sadly the other Japanese manufacturers blocked Mazda’s plans for the rotary to be allowed in the Kei car classification.

After Mazda ceased production of the Chantez in 1972 it withdrew from the Kei car market until the late Eighties when the Japanese government’s revised incentives created a new boom in the category and Mazda revived the Carol name with the launch of the Autozam Carol in 1989.

The new Autozam brand was Mazda’s domestic market “youthful” sub-brand, while the new Carol was actually a front-wheel drive Suzuki Alto.

Supplied as part of an OEM supply partnership with Suzuki (that also saw Suzuki sell the AZ-1 as the Suzuki Cara), the new Autozam Carol launched in 1995, but after Mazda gave up on all its various sub-brands (Autozam, Eunos and Efini) it returned to wearing the Mazda badge in 1998.

A fourth generation Carol followed in 2004 and it was replaced in 2010, before the current car was launched in 2014. All have been rebadged Suzukis, as is the rest of Mazda’s current Kei line up – the Flair is a rebadged Suzuki Wagon R and the Flair Wagon is a Suzuki Pallette – something that is commonplace in the segment these days, with a number of different Japanese manufacturers teaming up to develop Kei cars for the domestic market.