Toyota announces barn-door HiAce

TOYOTA will soon offer its popular HiAce light-commercial van with the option of barn-style rear doors.

The Aichi-based brand says the decision to offer the split-door arrangement was based on customer feedback, and will result in increased choice for HiAce customers. The HiAce currently accounts for more than 43.6 per cent of sales in the light commercial van segment and 87.1 per cent of those in the light commercial bus segment.

While the company’s local arm is yet to provide specification and pricing for the newly listed option, it says the barn-door option will be available on HiAce variants from the second half of 2022 and will provide a “new ergonomic solution to suit user needs”.

Rivals such as the Ford Transit Custom, Hyundai Staria Load, LDV G10, Mercedes-Benz Vito, (the soon to be discontinued) Mitsubishi Express, Peugeot Expert, Renault Trafic and Volkswagen Multivan are already available with a barn-door option.

The split rear-door configuration provides users with the option to use only one half of the van for entry and egress, plus the doors are lighter to operate and require less room to open and close, particularly inside parking garages.

The news comes shortly after Mitsubishi announced it had axed the Express light commercial van from its range. Citing current global business and supply conditions, MMAL said it would discontinue long-wheelbase variants of the Express from the middle of the year, with supply of short-wheelbase variants expected to last until the end of 2022.

The Mitsubishi Express – which is a badge-engineered Renault Trafic – was on sale in Australia for just 22 months.

Locally, the all-diesel Toyota HiAce range is priced from $44,650 (plus on-road costs) with five commercial models available. The HiAce range is further offered as a 12-seat bus, with a starting price of $69,650 (+ ORCs) – see full pricing details below.

To reiterate, the HiAce is currently the best-selling light commercial van and light commercial bus in the Australian market.

To the end of March 2022, Toyota has sold 2596 examples of the HiAce van, well ahead of rivals including the LDV G10/G10+ (880), Hyundai Staria Load (688), Ford Transit Custom (493), Mitsubishi Express (387), Volkswagen Transporter (290), Renault Trafic (213), Mercedes-Benz Vito (212), Hyundai iLoad (78), Peugeot Expert (63) and LDV V80.

The HiAce Commuter, likewise, dominates the light commercial bus segment with YTD sales of 871 units, well ahead of the Volkswagen Crafter Bus (54), LDV Deliver 9 Bus (51), Renault Master Bus (11), Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Bus (8) and Ford Transit Bus (5).

2022 Toyota HiAce pricing:

2022 Toyota HiAce Commuter pricing:

*Pricing excludes on-road costs.