Mini Truck Depot is the #1 portal to buy Japanese mini trucks in the US. But what are these Japanese mini trucks? Why did they originate in Japan? How did these quirky vehicles designed for the Japanese domestic market end up with such a following in the US?

Wait, What Is A Mini Truck?

If you’ve just stumbled on Mini Truck Depot from a Google search or whatever, your first question is quite likely to be very simply, “What on earth is a mini truck?” You know what trucks are. You know what pickups are. You know what UTVs are. But what is a mini truck? Is it some sort of kid’s toy? A model?

A photo is worth at least a thousand words, so first of all, let’s take a look at a typical mini truck. Here’s one: A Daihatsu Hijet.

Green Daihatsu Hijet Jumbo with light bar and lift

Okay, so this Hijet Jumbo model has been played with a little for the US market. It’s had a lift kit fitted so that it can take fancy wheels with larger, grippier off-road tires. Then there’s the roof rack and light bar as well. Looks good, right?

You’ll find a lot of the mini trucks for sale here at Mini Truck Depot are accessorized like this, so let’s get another photo in here to show you what a Japanese mini truck looks like in its original configuration. Now, this one’s a Suzuki Carry on the wharf in Japan getting ready to ship out. Take a look.

White 2020 Suzuki Carry

As you can see, in many ways it’s like a full-size truck, just mini-sized. You have a 2-person cab at the front and a load bed at the rear. The other thing you will immediately notice is how different it is to a UTV side-by-side. Right away, you’ll spot that it has a fully enclosed weatherproof cab with proper doors and windows. You’ll also notice the mirrors and headlights. In other words, as soon as you put the mini truck up against the UTV, you are aware if just what a step up it is in terms of equipment, comfort and build. (Plus, all of that equipment — and more — comes as standard!)

Yes, in fact you’ll see that any of the mini trucks for sale here at Mini Truck Depot have a level of equipment that easily outpaces even the most highly specced UTV.

Wait, Why The UTV Comparison?

And so we come to your next question: “Hold on a second. If these are “trucks”, why are you comparing them with UTVs and not regular pickup trucks?” Good spotting. A lot of people do take a look at these mini trucks, they hear the “truck” in the name, and they start salivating at the prospect of a mini-sized vehicle to get around locally and save big money on gas.

That’s a great thought, but when it comes to the US all the mini trucks you see on our site are sold exclusively for off-road use only. They’re also limited to maximum 20 MPH, which is absolutely fine for getting around fields or work sites.

But They’re Not Just Mini Pickups Either

No, these Japanese mini trucks come in all sorts of shapes (if not sizes — they are all “mini” after all). We’ve already had a look at a couple of pickup-style models further up the page, but let’s see what else is available.

We’ll start with the dump mini truck models. Here’s a typical Daihatsu Hijet dump kei truck. This one is an HD (Heavy Duty) dump and also has a snow plow attachment. Yes, you could say this is the Swiss Army Knife of mini trucks. What could you not get done with this little guy?

White Daihatsu Hijet HD Dump with snow plow

And then there’s the 4-passenger crew-cab style Daihatsu Hijet Deck Van model. Now this could also be referred to as somewhat of a Swiss Army Knife mini truck. It can do a number of things: There’s seating for 4 passengers in comfort with wide sliding doors at the back. (Great if you’re bringing your kids or grandkids with you around the farm, or off hunting!) Then there’s the deep rear load bed. And if you need more flexibility to move stuff around, you can remove the seat bases for the rear passengers and use that enclosed area to haul stuff too. (You can see why these Deck Vans are so popular, right?)

Green Daihatsu Hijet Deck Van

Finally, there’s the van-style mini truck models (the Daihatsu Hijet Cargo and Suzuki Every). Got a large manufacturing facility? What about a hospital or college campus? These make great vehicles for your maintenance team, or to move people around in much greater comfort than the golf carts you would otherwise be using. Like with the Deck Van, there’s seating for 4. But, unlike the Deck Van, the rear load area is fully enclosed, so folding down the rear seats gives you a large volume of hauling space that’s protected from the elements.

Silver Daihatsu Hijet Cargo Van mini truck

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