Toyota has revived Scion, but the tC isn’t coming back with it. The first vehicle under the new name, now officially “Scion by Toyota,” is the KEI-01. It’s a right-hand-drive Japanese-style mini truck that will be assembled in Indiana and capped at 25 mph. If you were holding out for a cheap coupe with a loud aftermarket stereo, please take a number.
What Toyota actually confirmed
Toyota’s launch announcement gives the KEI-01 a 660cc three-cylinder engine, a CVT and standard selectable four-wheel drive with an auto mode and a push-button lock. The truck is just over 11 feet long and under 5 feet wide. Its three-way fold-down bed is rated for up to 600 pounds, and Toyota says the structure is stiff enough to tow small trailers and equipment. The extended cab has a raised roof, seats that slide and recline, storage behind the seats, and heat and A/C.
Assembly starts at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana in the second half of 2027. Toyota is putting $34 million into the project and says it will add about 50 jobs. Sales will start with a fleet-focused pilot program run by a small group of Scion by Toyota dealers chosen from existing Toyota stores. Toyota calls the truck an “intentionally low-volume, niche vehicle” and says limited retail sales may follow, depending on demand and operations. Toyota hasn’t given a price or warranty terms.
The 25-mph cap is a regulatory strategy
The speed limit is how the truck gets around the rules. Toyota designed it to meet FMVSS No. 500, the federal safety standard for low-speed vehicles (LSVs). Under the federal vehicle definitions, an LSV is a four-wheeled vehicle with a top speed above 20 mph but no more than 25 mph and a gross vehicle weight rating under 3,000 pounds.
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Once a vehicle qualifies, the required equipment list in Standard No. 500 is fairly short. It covers headlamps, turn signals, taillamps, stop lamps, reflectors, a glazing-rated windshield, a VIN and seat belts.
The important part is what’s missing from that list: the full set of crash standards that apply to an ordinary pickup. That’s how a truck built around Japan’s kei size rules can be sold new in the U.S. without being re-engineered for American crash testing. The trade-off is a four-wheel-drive work truck that’s limited to neighborhood-cart speeds.
Federal rules decide how the truck is built. State rules decide where you can drive it. LSV road access is set state by state, so a fleet manager should check local rules before assuming the truck can make the run between two job sites.
Why right-hand drive isn’t a mistake
Toyota hasn’t explained why it’s keeping the steering wheel on the right. For a low-volume truck, though, skipping a left-hand-drive conversion saves real engineering money. It also works for the kind of job this truck is built for. Picture a curbside route, or a ranch with gate after gate: the driver steps out on the shoulder side instead of into traffic.
Ownership realities
- Insurance: An LSV isn’t farm equipment, and it isn’t quite a normal truck either. Fleets should ask their insurers how it will be rated, whether as commercial auto or under a specialty LSV policy, before the first unit shows up.
- Service: Toyota hasn’t said whether every Toyota dealer will service the truck or only the pilot dealers. With a small first network, early buyers should find out how far away the nearest qualified technician is.
- Versus used imports: Gray-market kei trucks are already common on farms, and many can go faster. The KEI-01’s selling point is different: it’s a new vehicle certified for U.S. federal rules and backed by Toyota. Whether that’s worth paying for depends on a price Toyota hasn’t published yet.
Scion has done this before
This revival is closer to Scion’s roots than the nostalgia suggests. Toyota’s own fact sheet describes Scion’s 2003 launch as a “test laboratory division,” and its iQ microcar arrived in October 2011. In 2012, Scion put the iQ EV into campus and urban car-sharing programs, which was a fleet experiment in its own right. When Toyota folded Scion into the Toyota brand in 2016, it said the lab had let it fast-track ideas.
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Toyota also showed two concepts at the launch. The SxS is a side-by-side first shown at SEMA 2025, with a turbocharged hybrid making more than 300 hp and a Silent Mode that runs on electric power alone. The BKE concept came with no specifications at all.
Who this truck is actually for
If you run a farm, a campus, a resort or a municipal crew, keep an eye out for pricing and talk to your Toyota dealer about the pilot program. Enthusiasts get the badge and not much else. Scion is back, and it’s built for people who haul feed. Be honest: would you buy a brand-new 25-mph, right-hand-drive kei truck, or does a used gray-market import still look like the better deal?