A Japanese startup has presented a single-seat electric car for $7,000 to shake up the local car market (4 photos)

Half of the cars sold annually on the Japanese domestic market actually belong to the “kei-car” segment, which have modest dimensions, making them convenient to use on narrow streets and advantageous from a tax standpoint. Startup KG Motors hopes to revolutionize the Japanese electric vehicle market by offering a single-seater with a range of 100 km for $7,000.





It must be said that compact electric cars have been offered on the Japanese market for a long time, and the same Nissan sells the Sakura model, which sold 22,926 units last year and became the most popular among electric cars in the country. Meanwhile, the price of $17,000 for the initial version does not allow us to talk about the universal availability of such an electric car. As it turns out, the startup KG Motors is going to shake up the Japanese electric car market by offering the first batch of 300 compact single-seater Mibot cars next year at a price of $7,000 each.

With a body length of about 2.5 meters, such an electric car will be very maneuverable, and a power reserve of 100 km will be enough for most daily needs of a resident of a Japanese metropolis or its suburbs. The car will be able to reach speeds of up to 60 km/ h, but this will be enough for urban use. Orders for Mibot have been accepted since last fall, there are already 2,250 of them, and the first thousand were received in the first month. The overall production program at the first stage involves the assembly of 3,300 units, with the debut batch of 300 cars to be delivered to the Japanese market in the spring of next year, and the remaining 3,000 cars to be sent to export markets. Having reached the annual production of 10,000 of these single-seater electric cars, KG Motors expects to achieve sustainable profitability.

According to the founder and head of the startup, Kazunari Kusunoki, one of KG Motors' missions is to change public opinion in Japanese society regarding electric cars. Local consumers, according to him, trust too much the statements of Toyota Motor management, which constantly criticizes "purebred" electric cars and claims that they will never become popular. The entrepreneur believes that such a stereotype can and should be overcome.