A US Startup Wants To Sell You A $21,500 Ameri-Kei Pickup With A Manual

Slate isn’t the only young American outfit chasing the idea of a small, cheap pickup truck. A startup called REO Industries wants a slice of the US market that nobody else is fighting for, and its plan runs on two pickups and an SUV, all of them drawing on Japan’s iconic Kei cars, albeit scaled up to suit American tastes.

The REO badge first appeared on a car back in 1905, though that original company folded a few decades later. Texas real estate agent Zach De Bernardi tracked down the rights to the name and built REO Industries around it. He has never manufactured a car in his life, but he keeps a sizeable collection, heavy on classic Toyotas, and it’s that Toyota DNA he wants running through everything wearing an REO badge.

Three Models, Three Price Points

The company says it has three models in the works, named the Runabout T4X, Runabout T4C, and the Runabout S4C, an SUV. The base T4X is being targeted to start at just $21,500, while the T4C bumps this up to $25,000, and the S4C is $28,500. Like the new truck from Slate, REO’s Runabout models will be simple, hence the affordable price points. They will also be small. In fact, the T4X will be just 180 inches (4,572 mm) long, or slightly shorter than a Mazda3 Sedan.

Read: Slate’s EV Pickup Is So Cheap It’ll Make You Wrap It At Home

Underpinning the vehicles will be a body-on-frame architecture and a mechanical four-wheel drive system. Unlike Slate, which is building its truck purely as an EV, REO is targeting a broader group of buyers with its Runabouts. As such, they will use a simple four-cylinder gas engine, free of the direct injection found in most modern engines. Although we don’t know if this engine will be sourced from elsewhere or built in-house, it will be paired exclusively with a manual transmission.

“Ameri-Kei” Vehicles

Speaking with Road & Track, Bernardi described the vehicles as occupying the “Ameri-Kei” class, hence their compact size. Basic models will ship without features such as a radio or even finished door cards and will offer an abundance of accessories as optional extras.

REO is also adopting an interesting open-source approach for the project. As such, buyers will have access to crucial vehicle details that manufacturers would usually keep under lock and key. The company hopes this will encourage owners to develop their own parts and accessories. If these parts meet REO’s requirements, they could even be listed for sale on its website.

Built In Texas, Years From The Road

The Trump administration’s relaxation of emissions laws helped to convince REO that building vehicles like this was possible. Production is planned for Texas.

Reservations have opened with REO, currently accepting $25 refundable deposits. It plans to unveil the full three-vehicle line-up in the fourth quarter before starting pre-production in 2027, opening orders and commencing production in 2028, and starting deliveries later that year, or in early 2029.