I like a small work truck as much as anyone who has ever tried to squeeze a full-size pickup into a garden-center parking space. So when Toyota said it was bringing Scion back, and that the first product would be a brand-new kei truck assembled in Indiana, I was in. Then I looked at the steering wheel.
Yes, the US-market Scion KEI-01 is right-hand drive. That is not a rumor, and it is not just a Japanese truck posing for cameras. Toyota’s official press release is blunt about it: “The KEI-01 is a right-hand-drive vehicle designed to comply with FMVSS No. 500 requirements for LSVs.” Official photos of the cabin put the wheel on the right. Car and Driver’s reveal video of the truck on stage does the same. The Drive put it even more plainly: Toyota will build it that way in Indiana and sell it that way here.
Toyota is relaunching the Scion brand, and its first product is the KEI-01, a tiny truck with a 660-cc engine. The KEI-01 is basically a rebadged Daihatsu Hijet Jumbo, but will be assembled in Princeton, Indiana. Initial sales will be via a fleet-focused trial program, but limited retail sales could come if there is strong enough demand.
— Car and Driver (@CARandDRIVER) November 10, 2026
Car and Driver posted the news on November 10, 2026, with a 41-second walkaround of the reveal truck. By the afternoon of November 11, 2026, in America/New_York, the post had about 1.07 million impressions and about 13,000 likes.
A Hijet in Scion clothes, built in Indiana
Car and Driver describes the KEI-01 as basically a rebadged Daihatsu Hijet Jumbo, the extended-cab kei truck Toyota already knows from Japan. The difference is where this one will be put together. Toyota says assembly starts in the second half of 2027 at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana in Princeton, backed by a $34 million investment and about 50 new jobs. The badge on the nose is “Scion by Toyota,” which the company is pitching as a “freedom lab” for oddball mobility ideas, not a rerun of the old xB and tC years.
The mechanical brief is tiny and honest. A 660cc three-cylinder engine and a CVT are standard, along with selectable four-wheel drive that has an auto mode and a push-button lock. Toyota has not published horsepower or torque figures. The truck measures just over 11 feet long and under 5 feet wide. Car and Driver says the example it saw was said to weigh less than 2,000 pounds, and it rode on 145/80-12 Yokohama Super Van 355 tires. Payload is 600 pounds. Toyota says the structure can handle towing small trailers and equipment, but it has not published a towing rating. Car and Driver reported that a towing package may be optional.
The other catch: 25 mph, and not at the regular dealer yet
The right-hand-drive layout is tied to how Toyota is getting the truck into the US quickly. It is designed as a low-speed vehicle under FMVSS No. 500, with a maximum speed of 25 miles per hour. Car and Driver says engineers told them the cap is baked into the engine computer, and that a simple “cut the wire” trick will not unlock highway speeds. That 25-mph limit is also why this is not a substitute for a regular pickup. It is meant for slow roads and tight jobs, and the exact streets you can legally drive a low-speed vehicle on still depend on state and local rules.
You also cannot walk into a Toyota store and buy one on day one. Toyota is starting with a fleet-focused pilot, sold through a small network of Scion by Toyota dealers chosen from existing Toyota dealers. The company says it may consider limited retail sales later, depending on demand, market conditions, and operational considerations. No retail date and no price have been announced. Some outlets have guessed at a number. Those guesses are not official, and they do not even agree with each other.
The useful bits are still the useful bits. Toyota gave the US truck a three-way fold-down cargo bed, an extended cabin with a raised roofline, reclining and sliding seats, and storage behind the seats. Heat and air conditioning are standard. Car and Driver also noted push-button ignition, a cab-mounted reverse camera, and airbags, “though not many.” Toyota has not said when, or if, everyday buyers will get a shot at one.
Alongside the KEI-01, Toyota showed two concepts: the SxS, a side-by-side with a turbocharged hybrid powertrain rated at more than 300 horsepower, first shown at the 2025 SEMA Show, and the BKE, a compact personal-mobility two-wheeler. Those are concepts. The KEI-01 is the one headed for Indiana.
If tiny utility trucks are your thing, we already wrote about the TELO MT1 electric mini truck. And if you just want a small Toyota with less cargo space and more grin, there is the Toyota GR Kart.
Sources: Toyota’s official Scion by Toyota and KEI-01 press release (November 10, 2026), Car and Driver’s reveal story and X post, plus coverage from The Drive, Motor1, and Road & Track. Impression and like counts were recorded in the afternoon on November 11, 2026, America/New_York. Images: official Toyota press photos, used editorially and credited.
