Toyota Hiace luxury van launched in India

Toyota has launched the Hiace in India with a starting price of Rs 55 lakh, ex-showroom. Toyota is yet to make an official announcement on the launch. This is not the Hiace that is on sale in the international markets. In fact, Toyota launched the new Hiace in the international markets in 2019 while the version that is launched in India is on sale since 2004 in many markets.

Toyota will import the Hiace to sell it as CBU in India. The manufacturer will utilise the no homologation law for 2,000 units of a vehicle in India. As of now, as per ACI, Toyota has imported 50 units for the first batch. Only two colours of the internationally-popular MPV will be available in India – white and silver. Also, only a single configuration of the Hiace will be sold in India initially. Toyota may add more options at a later date.

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The Hiace comes powered by a 2.8-litre, four-cylinder, turbocharged diesel engine. It generates a maximum power of 151 PS and a peak torque of 300 Nm. It is the same engine that powers the Toyota Fortuner and the Innova Crysta in the Indian market. However, Toyota has tweaked the power output. In the newly launched Toyota Fortuner facelift, the same engine produces a maximum power of 204 PS and 500 Nm of torque with the automatic transmission.

Toyota will sell the Hiace in only GL trim in India. Also, only the 14-seater configuration including the driver and co-driver will be available officially in the Indian market. The last row seat of the vehicle can be folded to open up additional boot space too. The Hiace is not a luxurious MPV. It is a high capacity van that offers a rugged cabin and plenty of storage space inside the cabin.

Also, talking about the features, there are not too many of them. The Hiace in India will offer a 2-DIN audio system with CD, USB and AUX support in the front. The gear-selector is mounted on the dashboard to save the space. Also, there are two airbags for the driver and the co-driver. Other safety features include ABS with EBD, power steering, power windows, rear defogger, each row gets AC vents, semi-reclining seats and power sliding doors.

Toyota launched the new Fortuner and Legender earlier this year and they announced that they have received more than 5,000 bookings for the same. Toyota has no plans to launch new cars in the Indian market this year. However, in the future, the brand may launch a new C-SUV with the partnership of Maruti Suzuki to counter the cars like Hyundai Creta, Kia Seltos, Tata Harrier and more.

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