TOYOTA has confirmed it has no plans to re-enter Australia’s mainstream people-mover market, arguing the segment is shifting upmarket and is now better served by luxury offerings such as the $200,000 Lexus LM.
The decision leaves the Kia Carnival – which commands around 80 per cent of the sub-$70,000 people-mover market – without a direct Toyota rival, following the discontinuation of the HiAce-based Granvia earlier this year.
Toyota Australia vice-president of sales, marketing and franchise operations Sean Hanley said the brand sees limited opportunity in the traditional people-mover space, but growing potential at the premium end of the market through Lexus.
“That’s kind of where that market is moving, and that is an ideal position for our Lexus brand,” Mr Hanley told Drive.
“There are no immediate plans at all to bring a people mover in.
“We’ve done it, and tried it (with Granvia). There’s a market, but it’s not huge – it’s relatively small.”
Toyota currently sells the Alphard and Vellfire people movers in Japan, while the US-market Toyota Sienna – built alongside the Kluger – has not been engineered for right-hand drive, ruling it out for Australia.
Despite modest growth compared to last year, people movers account for just 1.2 per cent of all new-car sales in Australia in 2025, with buyers increasingly gravitating towards large SUVs instead.
Toyota fields several seven-seat SUV options locally, including the Kluger, Fortuner, LandCruiser Prado and LandCruiser 300 Series – a segment that now represents more than 17 per cent of the Australian new-car market.
At the luxury end, the Lexus LM has emerged as Australia’s most expensive people mover, priced from $168,520 to $223,520 before on-road costs, with 212 units sold year-to-date.
“If you go into a niche market like Lexus in that high-end luxury people-moving stakes, then for them, it works a treat,” Mr Hanley said.
Final deliveries of the Toyota Granvia occurred in March 2025, with the model axed due to low demand and the investment required to meet new ADR 98/00 safety standards.
However, Mr Hanley said Toyota’s stance is not locked in forever.
“You never get complacent with your model strategy,” he said. “We say today, ‘No people mover’, but someone could be sitting here in five years going, ‘Well, actually, it’s moved again’.”
Drive.com
