{"id":38945,"date":"2024-11-30T11:38:32","date_gmt":"2024-11-30T16:38:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/the-honda-vamos-is-japanese-kei-weirdness\/30\/11\/2024\/"},"modified":"2024-11-30T11:38:32","modified_gmt":"2024-11-30T16:38:32","slug":"the-honda-vamos-is-japanese-kei-weirdness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/the-honda-vamos-is-japanese-kei-weirdness\/30\/11\/2024\/","title":{"rendered":"The Honda Vamos Is Japanese Kei Weirdness"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Read the full story on The Auto Wire<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

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The Honda Vamos Is Japanese Kei Weirdness<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

Most people have seen at least a few Japanese<\/a> Kei vehicles in their time even if they don\u2019t realize it, although they\u2019re rare imports. The Scion xB would be the closest a car made for the American market has gotten to these small, low-powered, and cheap models that are quite common in Japan. But even in the Land of the Rising Sun, the Honda Vamos is one of the rarer and stranger<\/a> Kei trucks out there.<\/p>\n

See the lowrider culture in Japan.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Unlike many other Keis, the Vamos was designed for open-air use, like Jeeps<\/a> of old. While consumers got a fabric roof and doors for these vehicles, Honda designed all the switchgear and the gauges to survive exposure to water and dust.<\/p>\n

The rest of the simple interior was also created for harsh use<\/a>, so it\u2019s no difficult to see how this little thing was viewed as a weekend toy or a wilderness runabout. Buyers had the option of getting this Honda with either two or four seats.<\/p>\n

While having the spare tire mounted to the slightly raked front nose, combined with the cutesy round headlights, invited open comparisons with the Volkswagen Type 2 Microbus, the Honda Vamos didn\u2019t have a rear-engine layout. Instead, this vehicle has the 354cc engine located mid-ship in the chassis.<\/p>\n

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Most people could never quite figure out what the Vamos was all about. Like other strange vehicles that seemed to be a confused straddling of several market segments, this was not entirely a pickup truck, beach car, jeep, or economy car. That might have been why Japanese consumers didn\u2019t take to it more readily.<\/p>\n

Despite what the British guy in the included video erroneously claims, \u201cVamos\u201d is Spanish for \u201clet\u2019s go.\u201d This was hardly the last time a Japanese automaker used a Spanish word for a model name, with the Mitsubishi Pajero as an excellent example of another. Still, some find this revelation unbelievably odd, but it\u2019s possible they\u2019re just taken aback at the strange nature of this beast.<\/p>\n