OREANDA-NEWS. Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. and Mitsubishi Motors Corporation announced the model names and showed the exterior designs of their jointly-developed new minicars for the Japanese market. Sales of the new minicars will begin in June 2013 under the Nissan DAYZ and DAYZ Highway STAR, and the Mitsubishi eK Wagon and eK Custom, model names.

The product planning and development of the new models was conducted by NMKV Co., Ltd., a joint venture formed by Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors to develop minicars for the Japanese market. Uniting the strengths of Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors in functional areas such as product planning, development, design and purchasing, the new models offer highly competitive attributes such as excellent fuel economy and a comfortable, roomy cabin. Collaboration in NMKV from the product planning phase onward enabled Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors to retain their separate brand identities, yet create innovative and quite different designs for their respective minicar models. This has never been achieved before in mini-vehicles that have been produced under previous OEM vehicle supply agreements.

Mitsubishi's new models, eK Wagon and eK Custom, strike the balance among features that are necessary to achieve an "ee kei" (meaning "good minicar"), including a "comfortable cabin space and easy handling", a "high-quality feel that surpasses that of traditional minicars," and "excellent fuel economy."