Tiny Nissan Dayz cuts through traffic like a little ninja and is ideal for city driving

HONEY, they shrunk the car. No, they really did.

In Japan, these little rollerskates — called Kei cars — are more popular than sake and sushi.

But I suppose that’s to be expected when sales top two million a year. I repeat, two million.

Why so, Mr Rob? Lower tax. But also because they are mega practical, kooky and fun, and a doddle to park.

The rules state that Kei cars must be 660cc or lower and less than 3.4m long and 1.48m wide. Properly titchy, then.

So why am I telling you all this? Because I say we should adopt them here.

If we are serious about cleaning up our congested cities, let’s have proper incentives for electric Kei cars.

Then we’d have clean air AND would double the number of parking spaces overnight. Win. Win.

At the moment we have a ludicrous CO2 taxation system that supports the rich in their two-tonne hybrid SUVs and does nothing for the rest of us. Explain that one.

And while I’m on the subject, have you noticed the demise of cheap little runabouts?

Are we slowly witnessing the death of the small car in Britain? Ford Ka, Vauxhall Adam, Vauxhall Viva, Renault Twingo, Suzuki Celerio, all axed.

And that makes me sad because I love small cars.

They are the first car we ever buy and the last car we ever buy. So Kei cars would help address that, too.

Nissan design boss Alfonso Albaisa agrees that Europe should “follow the lead of Japan” with a special category of city car.

He said: “In Japan, we have learned to use every millimetre of the box, whereas some of the micro cars outside of Japan are just using aesthetics. This is a family car.

It is very spacious. Forty per cent of the cars here are Kei cars because they are damn good and electric makes them even better.”

Now before anyone starts chirping up about safety, they are safer than a moped or a bicycle and the Nissan Dayz I drove in Tokyo this week had radar-controlled ProPilot, as well as SOS assist and front, side and curtain air bags.

ProPilot includes autonomous emergency braking and adaptive cruise control, just like a Qashqai.

For a simple box on wheels, the comfort and kit list is impressive.

Big sofa-like heated seats, 9in touchscreen, Apple CarPlay, even a mini TV screen inside the rear-view mirror to help when reversing. That’s a luxury on an Evoque.

You can also get 4WD Kei cars and taller ones with sliding doors where kids up to 1.27 metres can hop straight in. They’re genius.

But best of all, Kei cars cost pennies to run and carve through traffic like a little ninja. I’m still smiling now.

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Mi-tech’s a marvel

IT’S fair to say Mitsubishi had the wildest concept at the Tokyo Motor Show this week.

You’re looking at a gas turbine-powered dune buggy with jet-fighter windscreen, four electric motors and counter-rotating wheels for 180-degree tank turns. Bloody marvellous.

We caught up with Mitsubishi’s design guru Tsunehiro Kunimoto to hear about his latest dream machine.

“MI-TECH is an exercise in spirit and adventure” he explains of the radical concept.

“It was a most entertaining and challenging project.”

You’re not wrong. But what does it lead to? The next ASX, we’re told.

Bung a roof on it, add some doors, ditch the gas turbine, squint a little, and voila – it’s the 2021 ASX compact SUV with an electrified powertrain.

There will be mild hybrid and all-electric versions.

Kunimoto insists MI-TECH is not aggressively styled, but rather muscular and friendly – and this is the path Mitsubishi intend to follow.

Evolving his cutting-edge design cues from the e-Evolution concept delivered two years ago, the robustly blunt rear end takes a hexagonal form – a new Mitsu signature which we likey, a lot.

Sharp, split-level LED lights, minimal horizonal dashboard, plus a next-generation “dynamic shield” grille also convey the new design language that will filter into the road cars of tomorrow.

But while the big cheeses are still keeping schtum on the subject of when we’ll see the next petrolhead pin-up Evo, Mitsubishi’s real-world future is looking fully charged.