Ian Schmidt

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The number of people who reply to that video with "if I knew vans could be that cool" should be a wake-up call for someone at Toyota. Offer a Sienna GR Edition with some performance and appearance mods and an adjustable air suspension rolling on Vossens and they'd do well I think.
 

spwolf

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The number of people who reply to that video with "if I knew vans could be that cool" should be a wake-up call for someone at Toyota. Offer a Sienna GR Edition with some performance and appearance mods and an adjustable air suspension rolling on Vossens and they'd do well I think.

Realistically not really at all. Vans are dead in Europe, and dying in NA. Luckily for TMC owners in USA, it is one of the largest markets for TMC, so Sienna will survive.

Sienna was one of the first ones with some kind of sport package, and AWD. I am sure next one will do Camry like XSE, but lets not fool ourselves about viability of MPV in western world.
 

Ian Schmidt

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Oh, I don't think they'll turn the tide on van sales or anything, but it might get a few people who'd otherwise buy an SUV into a more suitable vehicle.
 

ssun30

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The Alphard recently received a refresh with TSS (early this year for RHD and last month for LHD). I've neved checked Toyota JP before so I don't know if E-Four is new. But previously there was definitely a FWD-only hybrid. Now hybrids are E-Four only. The V6 is updated to the FKS variant. If I'm not mistaken the second row is also upgraded to even more luxurious seats (but not quite LS Executive level). We have reason to believe the LM is just around the corner given the LHD Alphard just received this refresh.
 

spwolf

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The Alphard recently received a refresh with TSS (early this year for RHD and last month for LHD). I've neved checked Toyota JP before so I don't know if E-Four is new. But previously there was definitely a FWD-only hybrid. Now hybrids are E-Four only. The V6 is updated to the FKS variant. If I'm not mistaken the second row is also upgraded to even more luxurious seats (but not quite LS Executive level). We have reason to believe the LM is just around the corner given the LHD Alphard just received this refresh.

new TNGA based Alphard is coming in 2020....
 

ssun30

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The refreshed Alphard LHD is selling over 1.5k per month in China, for a vehicle that has a OTD price 30% higher than the LS.

new TNGA based Alphard is coming in 2020....
Seeing how even a LS-priced minivan has such a strong demand. Now I'm hoping Toyota expand its van lineup more aggressively out of JDM. Dealerships are resorting to unofficial channels to import the HiAce, Previa, and Sienna to meet the demand. A full lineup of Sienta, Previa, Alphard and Lexus LM, all redesigned for TNGA, should add a lot of profit for them. They probably don't want to do HiAce anymore seeing how badly it worked last time.
 

supra93

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https://www.motor1.com/news/272727/lexus-minivan-imagined-render/

lexus-minivan.jpg

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lexus-minivan.jpg
 

ssun30

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What do you mean with that? As in it didn't work in the chinese market? I'd say HiAce has been doing well overall, it is just long in the tooth now. But I can't imagine it not getting a successor.

It did too well that it soon got overwhelmed by copycats, due to simplicity of manufacturing...true Toyota-made HiAce is less than 1% of all the HiAce running on the roads. Same happened to the Hilux. Glad it didn't happen to the Land Cruisers, because these are significantly harder to reverse engineer.
 

GSCT

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Argh! Now my lunch isn’t going to digest properly. It’s not so much “bizarrely appealing” as just plain bizarre.