BYD Sparks New Competition in Japan's Kei Car Segment

KatadataOTO – Japanese manufacturers are preparing to face stiff competition in the kei car segment following the arrival of the BYD Racco at the Japan Mobility Show 2025.

The automotive giant from China is presenting a new kei car option, a segment that typically uses conventional engines.

Currently, the best-selling kei car in Japan is the Honda N-Box, which is not yet available in an Electric Vehicle (EV) option.

Quoted from Carscoops, a recent report reveals that Honda is preparing to introduce an electric version of the N-Box kei car in 2027.

Photo: Honda

“For Japanese consumers, this will be the first time a popular kei car is offered in a pure electric configuration,” wrote the Carscoops report, quoted Wednesday (24/12).

It should be noted that there is only a gasoline engine variant of the Honda N-Box with a 658 cc engine capacity, in accordance with the kei car criteria regulations in Japan.

The Honda N-Box sold 206,000 units in Japan throughout last year. However, the arrival of the BYD Racco has the potential to shake up that achievement.

There is no official information yet regarding the technical specifications of the Honda N-Box EV. For comparison, the Racco kei car is equipped with an LFP battery with a capacity of 180 kWh.

Thanks to that power storage, the BYD Racco can travel up to 180 kilometers on a single full charge.

Owners are also facilitated by the availability of fast charging or DC Charging up to 100 kW.

So there is a possibility that the battery capacity and performance of the electric Honda N-Box version will not be much different from the BYD Racco. 

The Honda N-Box is also believed to be set to reignite competition in the electric-powered kei car class within the next two years.

This also has the potential to become a momentum for the growth of EV adoption in Japan. Currently, the figure is said to be still small, at only two percent of total car sales in Japan.

Photo: Nissan

The two favorite models there are the Nissan Sakura and Mitsubishi eK X, small-sized EVs that contribute to 40 percent of electric car sales in Japan.

Not only Honda, Suzuki is reportedly following Honda's lead to prepare a competitor for the BYD Racco.

However, it is not yet known whether Suzuki will use an existing kei car base or design a completely new one.