Colorado decided to consider arbitrarily pulling registrations for kei trucks earlier this week, after the shady American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators asked it to. Now, just three days later, the state has given up the effort — your Honda Beats and Subaru Sambars are safe.
A Reddit post, first spotted by the Drive, shows an email to kei truck owners from the Colorado DMV stating that the promulgation — a word which here means “the act of making a law or decree known, or formally putting it into effect, by public declaration” — has been canceled. Kei cars in the state are safe, thanks to the work of Colorado enthusiasts who pushed back against the AAMVA.
Colorado isn’t the first state where enthusiasts have beaten the AAMVA. Massachusetts kei owners managed the same feat earlier this year, but it’s unlikely those two will remain the only states that have to fight the organization’s inexplicable hate of all things small and fun — the AAMVA’s board of directors includes DMV representatives from California to Rhode Island, Nova Scotia to Arizona, and seemingly everywhere in between.
If the AAMVA hates kei cars, and its members hold power over vehicle registrations in this many jurisdictions, then the fight for sub-660 cc rights is just beginning. Look out for similar measures in your home state, and be ready to inundate your local DMV with letters in opposition to the shady organization’s moves. We deserve kei cars, and it sounds like we’ll have to fight for that right.
