Kei car calamity

May 27, 2024

As they are want to do from time to time, the Department of Infrastructure has thrown the industry into a bit of chaos for the last two months by making changes to the import laws with no forewarning. This affects only passenger kei cars at the moment but does make some models which were previously importable no longer allowed to come into Australia.

Previously the Department accepted that for some years of kei cars, if the cars passed Japanese crash test standards then they should also automatically meet Australian crash test standards... a decision they decided to overturn without any warning. As such certain models of kei cars now arne't considered to meet Australian crash test standards.

Models which were previously importable but are no longer allowed include the Suzuki Spacia, Daihatsu Taft, Nissan Sakura, Suzuki Jimny and Suzuki Hustler. It appears the Daihatsu/Toyota Copen may also no longer be importable, but we are waiting for confirmation on that.

Then there are some models where cars built NEWER than October 2021 can no longer be imported, but cars built BEFORE October 2021 are still ok. This includes the Honda N-BOX, N-ONE, S660 and N-VAN.

Unaffected models include kei trucks and kei vans, these are technically commercial vehicles and not passenger vehicles, and so have different crash test standards to adhere to. As such kei trucks and kei vans can continue to be imported, as are some other models such as Pajero Minis.

For an up to date list of importable kei cars the information on our site the should be correct and up to date, though always feel free to ask us as the Department still won't give us a straight answer on some topics.

Our frustration with the Department of Infrastructure is palpable as for not the first time the way they have handled changing the laws could not have been done in a worse manner, and with zero thought to the consequences to our business or our customers. On one day they would have told us these cars are perfectly fine, and the very next they tell us how dare we import them and we should be punished. This is the second time in only a few years they have turned their mistake into our problem, and don't seem to care about the practical application of these changes and how their implementation affects the industry. They could have handled this such that these changes still could have taken place over a reasonable transition period, but instead there was no consideration to how the way they did this might affect various interest holders.

We'll continue to monitor the situation as there are still aspects about this which are unclear and the Department hasn't made a formal announcement which actually addresses some of the questiosn anyone in the industry might have. For now we are of course playing it very safe and so aren't taking risks with any models which we believe aren't importable, and so will continue to only work with cars which are allowed to be brought in.