Toyota has revived the Scion name for a vehicle that few buyers would have predicted: the KEI-01, a right-hand-drive kei truck, the tiny Japanese vehicle class, with a 660cc three-cylinder engine and a governed top speed of 25 mph. It will be assembled at Toyota’s Indiana plant starting in the second half of 2027, and sold first to fleets.
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The brand disappeared a decade ago. Its return as “Scion by Toyota” is built around small, cheap, utilitarian machines rather than the youth-oriented hatchbacks the original badge once carried, and the first of them is a work truck.
A 25-mph limit and the federal low-speed rulebook
The speed cap comes from the regulatory category Toyota is targeting. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 500 defines a low-speed vehicle as one that can exceed 20 mph but not go beyond 25 mph over a mile of level pavement, with a gross vehicle weight rating under 3,000 pounds, according to NHTSA’s summary of the standard. The rule also requires ten items of equipment, including headlamps, turn signals, mirrors, a parking brake, a glazed windshield, a VIN and seat belts at every seating position.
Toyota’s own announcement says the KEI-01 is designed to meet that standard, and Carscoops adds a practical caveat: with a 25-mph ceiling it cannot be driven on highways, and local rules for low-speed vehicles vary from place to place.
The 660cc engine, 600-pound bed and Indiana assembly
According to Toyota’s press release, the truck pairs a 660cc three-cylinder engine with a continuously variable transmission and standard selectable four-wheel drive. It is just over 11 feet long, under 5 feet wide and carries up to 600 pounds in its bed. Carscoops reports that the three-way cargo bed converts to a flat bed and that Toyota describes a push-button lock-up for mud, snow and uneven ground.
Production is a small program. Toyota will invest $34 million at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana, adding about 50 jobs, and Autoblog reports that the trucks will arrive from Japan as knockdown kits and be assembled in the state to satisfy FMVSS 500. Toyota has not published a price, a tow rating or power figures. Initial sales are a pilot. A small, fleet-focused program through selected Scion by Toyota dealers is planned, aimed at farms, construction sites, campuses and municipalities rather than commuters, per Autoblog and Carscoops.
Autoblog also lists the cabin as a two-seater with a raised roofline for more headroom, air conditioning, heating, electric windows, power points, driver aids and a touchscreen, though Toyota has said further details are still to come. Those items matter for the buyers Toyota has in mind, who would spend full workdays in the truck on a farm, a construction site or a university grounds crew, and who tend to value comfort and simple controls over speed.
The decision to import kits and assemble them in Indiana is a practical one. A vehicle at this size and speed would not compete on price if it were built from scratch at a new facility, so Toyota is leaning on an existing plant and a short list of local workers, about 50 of them, to meet federal rules without duplicating the Japanese production line.
What Scion once was and why Toyota ended it
Scion launched as Toyota’s youth brand and was closed out for the 2017 model year. Carscoops notes that it has been about 10 years since the cancellation. When Toyota announced the end, Bob Carter, then senior vice president of operations for Toyota Motor Sales, told Automotive News that young buyers were in a very different position than they had been 13 years earlier, a reference to the brand’s launch in 2003.
The revived brand starts from the opposite end of the market. Instead of selling trendy small cars to people in their twenties, the new Scion begins with a vehicle that is legally restricted, right-hand drive and priced for fleet budgets. Simon Humphries, Toyota Motor Corporation’s chief branding officer and head of design, framed the broader move in the release, saying the future of mobility will not be defined by one vehicle, one technology or one way of thinking. Autoblog, quoting Automotive News, says Humphries described Scion as a step toward Toyota becoming a mobility company.
The concepts shown beside the KEI-01
Two concepts accompanied the truck at the unveiling, which Toyota says took place the previous day at events in Ypsilanti Township, Michigan, and Frisco, Texas. The SxS Concept, shown at the 2025 SEMA Show in Las Vegas as the Scion 01 Concept and not for sale, is a side-by-side with a turbocharged four-cylinder hybrid powertrain producing more than 300 horsepower and an electric-only Silent Mode. The BKE Concept is a compact personal-mobility and outdoor-adventure design.
Neither concept has a production commitment. What Toyota has confirmed is the KEI-01, the $34 million Indiana program, and a second-half 2027 start. Pricing, tow capacity and the dealer list for the pilot are still to come.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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