Toyota no longer interested in taking on the Kia Carnival in Australia
03/06/2025 03:00 PM
After fewer than 1000 van-based Toyota Granvias were sold in five years – compared to 10,000 Carnivals last year alone – the car brand says it has no plans for a replacement.
Toyota Australia says its ship has sailed on people movers – despite more than 10,000 Kia Carnival deliveries last year – after the slow-selling, van-based Granvia was dropped last month.
The Japanese car maker has elected not to upgrade the Granvia – the much-loved Tarago’s successor – to meet new mandates for autonomous emergency braking (AEB) technology.
Even though fewer than 1000 Granvias have been sold in just over five years, Toyota Australia says it did not axe the model because “customers didn’t want it.”
MORE: Toyota Granvia axed in Australia after being outsold two-to-one by Ferrari
Yet it says it has no plans to replace it with a different model – such as Toyota USA’s hybrid Sienna or Japan’s Alphard – due to the popularity of SUVs.
Toyota Australia sales and marketing boss Sean Hanley told Drive it analysed the future of the Granvia “very carefully”, and it could not make the numbers work on investing in safety updates.
“We decided on a business and commercial basis, we couldn’t make that work, so we stopped the model. These things aren’t totally uncommon in any car industry or any car company.
MORE: Australia's tightening car safety regulations will force several major brands to axe popular models
“And we have no intention right now of an immediate replacement for that segment, because we strongly believe that SUVs – small, large, ‘Crosses’ – they will play a more significant role going forward.”
It is despite the success of the Kia Carnival, which reported more than 10,000 deliveries last year, buoyed by a petrol-electric hybrid option.
On debut in 2019, the Granvia was pitched as a replacement for the long-running Tarago, despite switching from car-based to heavy-duty van underpinnings, and diesel not petrol power.
“We didn’t stop Granvia because customers didn’t want it,” Hanley said when asked if the HiAce-based model was not the Tarago replacement Australians wanted.
“We stopped Granvia because the size of the market compared to the investment required to make it comply with Australian regulations didn’t work.
“I guess you could say yes, to some extent, SUVs large, medium, and small have definitely filled that gap.”
Pressed on why Kia is still able to sell close to 1000 Carnivals per month, he said: “Yeah, but honestly we’ve got other products that we’re going to put our investment into.”
While Kia sells plenty of Carnivals, it is the exception, not the rule.
MORE: Kia Carnival wins Best Family Car under $80K at Drive Car of the Year 2025
The Carnival accounts for three in four people movers sold – and the Top Five sellers in the category account for 93 per cent of deliveries.
Only 0.9 per cent of people movers sold last year were Toyota Granvias.
As reported by Drive last month, the Granvia is equipped with AEB, but the operating parameters of its system evidently do not meet new Australian regulations mandating the technology.
The related HiAce van – understood to use the same AEB sensors – will be upgraded to meet the standards, but it is a higher-volume vehicle which clocked up 12,082 sales last year, alongside 2805 HiAce Commuter buses.
The AEB rules have also claimed the likes of the current Mitsubishi ASX, Pajero Sport and Eclipse Cross, the Mazda 6 sedan and wagon, and a number of Suzuki models.
Just 117 Granvias were reported as sold locally last year – compared to 246 Ferraris – for a total of 999 between its launch in October 2019, and the end of January 2025.
The final Granvias are planned to be delivered in March, after which time Toyota will be left without a conventional people mover in its range – HiAce Commuter not counted – for the first time in 45 years.
The post Toyota no longer interested in taking on the Kia Carnival in Australia appeared first on Drive.
