It’s luxury van time: Toyota Granvia coming to Australia

Luxury vans are commonplace in Asia, where their high roofline, flexible interior configurations and high standards of appointment make them popular with executives. In fact, luxo editions of Toyota and Nissan vans are regarded basically as highly as we think of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class in Australia. Would they work here? We’re going to find out: the 2020 Toyota Granvia is en route.

Based on the new-generation Toyota HiAce commercial van, the Granvia promises to upgrade the standard of interior accommodation way beyond this people mover’s humble couriering origins. Toyota Australia vice president of sales and marketing Sean Hanley said the Granvia would make a perfect “five-star hotel shuttle, corporate transport for senior executives or just a large luxury family wagon.”

The seating inside is leather, while the pews themselves will be set in a captain’s chair arrangement in the first and second rows. There is a bench seat for three in the third row, bringing total seating capacity for the Granvia to eight.

Australians may be more familiar with the Tarago name for large Toyota people movers – but Granvia has been used before in the Toyota universe. Some examples of the Granvia version of the early-2000s Japanese market HiLux made their way to Australia by way of grey import.

The Tarago is still sold in Australia, with the current model dating to 2006. While the Granvia will be sold alongside the Tarago when it arrives around October, the Tarago will be discontinued at the end of the year.

Toyota has not revealed specifics about the Granvia’s engine, but they do say it will be turbodiesel-only for Australia. There’s a good bet that the engine is shared with the HiAce, which uses a 2.8-litre four-cylinder unit producing 130kW and 450Nm.

We are a little surprised that the new HiAce’s optional 3.5-litre V6 petrol engine has not been confirmed for the Granvia – this powerplant is undoubtedly smoother and produces substantially more power, at 207kW.

Pricing has also not yet been confirmed for the Granvia, though Toyota Australia have announced that two grades will be available.

For the driver, the infotainment will be Toyota’s latest generation, meaning Apple CarPlay and Android Auto should be available or retrofittable. Four USB ports and twelve speakers will feature on the Granvia.

Both Granvia grades will be fitted with pre-collision safety systems that can detect other vehicles, plus cyclists and pedestrians. Whether the remainder of Toyota’s Safety Sense systems – like lane keep assist and blind spot monitoring – will be fitted remains to be seen.