Differences from the four pre-production series cars included abandoning of the three pairs of tip-up seats near the doorways, and elimination of the dummy exterior window at the toilet position.
Broadly based on the KiHa 100–200 series cars, these are each equipped with one Komatsu DMF11HZ 330 hp engine.
The fleet is painted in an overall light blue colour scheme with "FRUITS LINER" logos.
[3] Build details:[4] Three pre-production cars were delivered to Morioka Depot between January and February 1990, with cars KiHa 110-1 and 2 built by Fuji Heavy Industries, and KiHa 110-3 built by Niigata Tekkō.
[5] Two production series cars, KiHa 110-4 and 5 were subsequently delivered to Morioka Depot from Fuji Heavy Industries in March 1991.
These had standard white/green front ends and did not have dummy exterior windows at the toilet position.
[5] Three 2-car sets were built by Niigata Tekkō and delivered to Morioka Depot in March 1991.
These were generally built to the same specifications as the full-production KiHa 110-0 cars, with plug doors, pipe-style front-end skirts.
[6] The KiHa 111-0/112-0 cars were intended for use on Rikuchū express services, and are fitted with rotating/reclining seats.
[6] Cars KiHa 111/112-101 to 108 were built by Niigata Tekkō and delivered to Kōriyama Depot between February and March 1991, cars KiHa 111/112-109 to 111 were also built by Niigata Tekkō and delivered to Koumi Depot in December 1991, cars KiHa 111/112-112 to 121 were built by Fuji Heavy Industries and delivered to Hitachi-Daigo Depot in February 1992.
[6] Four cars, KiHa 111/112-151 to 152, were built by Fuji Heavy Industries and delivered to Suigun Depot in September 1994.
The KiHa 111-300 cars included a universal access toilet, and had a seating capacity of 52.
[7] One single car and one twin-car set were converted in 2013 at JR East's Koriyama Works to become the Tohoku Emotion restaurant-car Joyful Train set for use in the north-east Tohoku Region of Japan and based at Morioka Depot.
[16][17] In March 2017, KiHa 110-231 was repainted into the Voiture Amitié blue and white livery formerly carried by a DMU used on the Iiyama Line between 1991 and 1997.
[18] On 3 July 2024, Hitachinaka Seaside Railway announced plans to acquire three KiHa 100 series cars from JR East to replace some of its ageing railcars.