The history of "eK" began with facing our customers head-on

Mitsubishi Motors believes that our approach to vehicle manufacturing is to balance the principles of "listening thoroughly to our customers and thinking of ways to provide them with the safest and most comfortable ride possible" and "pursuing vehicle performance as engineers while striving to innovate the unknown." In this issue of Mitsubishi Motors Stories, we will unravel the history of the eK series of Kei-cars (minicars), which represent a combination of these two approaches.

In 1962, Mitsubishi Motors launched its first passenger vehicle based on the Kei-car standard, the "Minica." At the time, many Kei-cars used FF (front engine, front wheel drive) or RR (rear engine, rear wheel drive) designs to allow for more interior space, but the Minica adopted a FR (front engine, rear wheel drive) configuration. With drive and steering handled by separate sets of tires, it delivered superior maneuverability, including superb cornering and weight distribution between front and rear. From then on, until the eighth generation launched in 1998, the Minica had a significant presence in the Kei-car market, boasting a history spanning 45 years across eight generations, the longest life span of any passenger Kei-car series. Particularly highly acclaimed was the "Minica Toppo," launched in 1990. The super-high roof, which was 70 mm taller than the standard vehicle height of 1,510 mm, became the forerunner of the "super-high wagon Kei-cars" that have become popular in recent years, and was succeeded by the "Toppo BJ," which was launched in 1998 in conjunction with changes to the Kei-car standards (overall length changing from 3,300 mm to 3,400 mm, and overall width from 1,400 mm to 1,480 mm).

The Toppo BJ was introduced by taking over the strength of the Minica Toppo, but sales volume fell short of expectations due to a market environment crowded with formidable competitors, so the company was faced with major challenge of launching another competitive Kei-car in as short a time as possible while keeping development costs low. At that time, Shinsuke Kawamura was appointed as the assistant manager of development Dept. in charge of the project.

"The whole development team started development with the intention of building a new Kei-car. We were all aware of the need to thoroughly respond to what customers want in a Kei-car. We held interview sessions in major cities across Japan to get feedback from customers, and we worked desperately to figure out how we could make something that would sell," Kawamura said.

We would keep asking customers who drove Kei-cars to meet with us and listened to what they had to say. At the time, many of those driving Kei-cars were women and the elderly, but most of our developers at the time were men, and they had no idea what users actually wanted in a car, especially the needs of women and the elderly, so it was difficult for us to get a clear picture of what they were really thinking. The only way to solve this problem was to listen to the firsthand views of our customers. As for the design, in order to create a styling that would attract to customers, when the designer drew a sketch, Kawamura immediately took it to the major Kei-car markets in Tokyo, Kyushu, and other areas, asking around about which one would be best.

"We found that women who drove Kei-cars tended to choose designs with a well-defined nose, a long and stable-looking wheelbase, and a square shape with a spacious interior. At that time, we also found that while a growing number of customers were demanding more interior space even in Kei-cars, some complained that super-high wagons with an overall height of over 1,600 mm couldn't be used in multi-story parking garages in city centers. With this in mind, we set the height of the car we were developing at 1,550 mm, higher than that of the Minica yet still able to fit into multi-story parking garages," Kawamura said.

The development team was also particular about the sale price, and from the start it was decided that the price would be kept within one million yen, including taxes and other expenses.

"We had to make a decision on what to prioritize, given that the price ceiling would limit what we could do, and we based that decision on whether or not something would benefit the customer. For example, at that time, more and more new cars were being equipped with 4-speed automatic transmissions, but for Kei-cars, which are mostly used for short-distance travel and are generally used at low speed ranges, we thought that 3-speed automatic transmission, which requires less frequent gear changes, still retained some advantages, so we went with that lighter and cheaper option," Kawamura said.

The "eK" in the name is an acronym for "excellent Kei-car" and is also the name given to the "eK Project," the development department launched to create a "good Kei-car" (pronounced "ee-K" in Japanese). The name was chosen to reflect our relentless pursuit of what is "good" for users. The first-generation eK Wagon, launched in 2001, sold at a brisk pace, topping a sales volume of 200,000 units in the first 18 months after its launch. "However, from the perspective of our development staff, there were a few things we were unable to incorporate in order to achieve the concept of a one-million-yen sale price. In order to fulfill this desire to make the car even better, we had the idea from the beginning to add variations that differ in concept from the standard model during the life cycle of the car, thereby meeting the needs of many different customers."

In 2002, the sporty-looking eK Sport was added, followed in 2003 by the classically styled eK Classy with a high-quality feel, and then the SUV flavor eK Active in 2004. These variant models, with their diverse personalities, were popular with a great many customers.

With variant models of the first-generation eK Wagon being developed one after another, the members of the development team remained busy even after its launch. As such, development of the second-generation eK Wagon proceeded simultaneously with that of the first-generation model. Many of the team members selected were new to the project, unfamiliar with the development process of the first generation. One of them, Atsushi Kimura, recalls, "We were faced with the difficulty of developing a second generation product to succeed a first generation that had been embraced by many customers. I remember going to talk to Mr. Kawamura many times during work to learn about the origins of the first generation."

What aspects of the first generation that were well received should be retained and what aspects should be evolved? The team held repeated discussions to get to the bottom of this. What we focused on within that was the needs of our customers and the way they actually used the car.

"As was the case with the first generation, even if you put in all sorts of advanced technology, it's meaningless if customers don't need it. When it came to styling, too, we wanted to make sure it was something that customers who actually use Kei-cars would be comfortable with," Kimura said.

A particular challenge was setting the height of the vehicle. With so-called "tall-type" models of 1,600 mm becoming mainstream, we considered many times whether it was necessary to keep the overall height of 1,550 mm, which is considered a "semi-tall" model.

After much discussion, we made the decision to keep it as a semi-tall. That was the original ethos of the eK wagon, and many customers were expecting it," Kimura said.

The concept behind the car is "convenient, safe, and comfortable," which expresses our desire to meet the needs of our customers. This was embodied in the electric sliding door, the first of its kind in a Kei-car with a bonnet type, and in the LED rear combination lamps.

Kawamura, who watched the second-generation development team go through all these painstaking efforts in the same room, says, "I felt that their work developing the car was underpinned by a strong desire to provide better products to customers who would actually buy and use them.While on the one hand they had to add some new features to the first generation, which had already had a fixed image as a car, they were also told that, because of business constraints, they had to increase the number of parts that could be shared with the first generation, so they had a hard time deciding where to focus our efforts in terms of evolution. Nevertheless, the team were always listening to customers and trying to unearth answers one by one. In fact, it was considered technically quite difficult to implement that sliding door on a vehicle of that height. This was made possible because of the passion of Mr. Kimura and his team, who conducted research based on customer usage."

"Even with the latest technology, a Kei-car has to be easy and convenient for customers to use. It was with a thorough understanding of this that all the development engineers thought carefully about how to incorporate technology into a Kei-car, with the many constraints that brings, and put it on the market. For our part, we are proud to say that we did everything we possibly could," Kimura said.

Around 2006, when the second generation was launched, the Kei-car market was in a period of transition. In the 2010s, sales of models taller than overall height of 1,600 mm surged, and as that became the standard, sales of the eK Wagon struggled to keep up.

The DNA of Mitsubishi Motors' car manufacturing is always thinking about what is best for customer, striving to innovate, and being thoroughly committed to the pursuit of vehicle performance. Since then, this spirit has been passed down to the third generation of the eK series and onwards.