Why Can’t the U.S. Have Toyota’s 40 MPG 4WD Minivan?
Toyota sells a 40 mile-per-gallon, four-wheel-drive hybrid minivan in Japan, and has since 2001, but they’re playing keeps.
Its become a bit of a perennial question that I’m reminded of when I find myself mired in the depths of the internet — a question that’s been simmering in the back of my mind since I learned about the Toyota Estima hybrid minivan 3 years ago… and then went to full boil when I learned that the Estima hybrid has been sold in Japan since 2001.
At the time, I googled extensively, I asked some Japanese colleagues, I contacted Toyota — I even set up a half-hearted online petition to bring the Estima hybrid to the US (offline now, but the Union of Concerned Scientists was more ambitious, garnering over 18,000 signatures).
After all that, I never really got answers as to why Toyota had no plans to bring this family-fantasy four-wheel-drive, 40 mpg minivan to the US, but as I did more research, I pieced together my own picture of the reasons. It seemed that Toyota didn’t think Americans would buy it because it wasn’t a “full-sized” minivan and it didn’t have enough power.
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But now, with the hearts and minds of consumers changing and demand for fuel efficient vehicles steaming ahead, I come back to the same question. And it’s the question I find myself asking of most every major auto manufacturer these days: WTF? If you’ve got a car that everybody will want, why don’t you just go ahead and sell it to everybody?
When I was growing up, my family was one of the first to buy Toyota’s Previa minivan. I remember sitting in it for the first time and thinking I was at the helm of a spaceship. It seemed so cool and turned me into an instant Toyota fanboy.
That Previa was built like a tank: it went 170,000 miles without any major service needed. It was also the source of many a fond teenage make-out and illicit substance memory — although most of those are a little foggy now, aren’t they?
I’ve owned Toyotas ever since, and probably will ’till the day I die. But recently I’ve started to get pissed at Toyota in the same way that I am at the American auto manufacturers for some of the dolt-headed, intelligence-defying marketing decisions they’ve made in regards to fuel efficient vehicles.
You see folks, that first generation Previa was the precursor to the Estima, but for some reason, when Toyota introduced the next generation Estima to the rest of the world as it phased-out the Previa, it introduced the turd-like Sienna to the US. The Sienna was a gas hog — just like all other US minivans — and was designed with not a hint of the Previa in mind.
As the years went on, the Japanese Estima got better and better and Toyota even released a “full-size” hybrid minivan to the Japanese market called the Alphard. But we were still stuck with the hulking Sienna.
Currently, the rumors indicate that Toyota will introduce a hybrid version of the Sienna to the US market sometime next year, but it won’t get nearly the mileage of the Estima. Again, I ask, WTF? Yo, Toyota, you’ve already got a minivan that half of the families in the US would kill for, what the hell are you doing investing so much energy in redesigning a has-been?
The video below is in Japanese, but regardless, it clearly shows the Estima hybrid in operation with its fancy Americans-need-it options and all. As a dad to two, I want this car for my family. What do you think? Is Toyota crazy just like all the other big auto manufacturers?
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Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons under a GNU Free Documentation License
Video Credit: VasyaKurolesov from Youtube
I found a 4 door Ford Ranger pickup that was 4WD and had a small diesel engine in it. Sold in Australia, but not here. I would buy one in a second as well as several of my friends. Emission standards is supposedly the reason it won’t be available. I have no idea who is doing the thinking for the major auto makers. They are losing market to the more innovative out there.
I want to know why I could buy a Ford Escort in 1991 with 4 doors and a trunk that got me 40-42 mpg on the highway and now 17 years later the car manufactures are selling cars and bragging about getting 28-33 mpg on the highway.
Actually, it is left-wing nutbars in California that pioneered the car regulations that keep the Estima out of the US market.
The “smart car” gets lousy gas mileage. My 99 Civic does better. A friend had a Geo Metro that did much better and was bigger.
Buzz,
Because your 1991 Escort had nominal safety equipment, a VERY low power engine, and very likely less luxury equipment (i.e. power windows and locks, sun roof).
According to Consumer Guide, a 1991 Escort Sedan 5-speed weighed 2400 pounds and came with a standard 88 hp engine rated at 31/38 mpg.
A 2008 Focus Sedan 5-speed weighs 2600 pounds and comes standard with a 140 hp engine rated at 24/35 mpg (not really that much worse on the highway considering the 59% increase in power).
The Focus comes standard with ABS, traction control and front and side airbags.
The Escort came standard with brakes, seat belts and 5 mph bumpers.
Frankly, give the Focus with the 1.4 litre diesel available in Europe and it would get mileage that even a Prius Owner would admire. But 0-60 times would be measured in minutes, not seconds.
I’m sure you think that power doesn’t matter, but I bet if you got into that Escort today you would be shocked at how slow it felt and how unsafe that lack of acceleration makes you feel.
We might not need 360 hp V-8’s (well, you might not, I do) but in most of the US you need something better than 60 hp diesels. That’s why the Smart will never be anything but an oddity. Only a very few markets (NYC, Chicago, Atlanta, LA and some others) have nasty enough commuter traffic to make the lack of acceleration irrelevant.
Fortunately, help is on the way. BMW and Mercedes both make diesel sedans that are almost as fast as their gas counterparts, but get 30% better mileage. imagine a Ford Taurus that goes 0-60 in 7 seconds and gets 40 mpg on the highway. That’s the kind of performance I can get behind.
Nick,
I too liked the Previa and thought the Sienna was a big step backward, but I distinctly remember reading that Toyota was not happy with the Previa’s sales, and that some market research they did discovered that minivan buyers didn’t want anything too innovative or that, “looked like a jellybean.” I remember those words exactly.
I think this is the coolest minivan I’ve ever heard of, but it looks pretty radical, and while I’d like the 4WD, I think a lot of folks may think it’s just something they’re paying for, but don’t need.
Oh, and may I just add that US vehicle regulations are retarded. But then, they were made up by lawyers, so what do you expect (Rhetorical question, hence no question mark).
Canada imports about 2000 “grey market” Japanese cars every year. Even though they come with right-hand drive, they’re very popular with 4WD off-roaders and speed demons. Where else in North America are you going to find a 4WD diesel camper-van, for example? Or a small 1.5 litre 4WD SUV?
Nick,
Your response mirrors the original post: You think the Sienna and similar vehicles are extravagant fuel-wasters, and your disdain for those who drive them is obvious. Again, you’re entitled to your opinion, but don’t get your panties in a knot when someone calls you out for being a judgmental know-it-all.
As for the “gas hog” charge, the Sienna is rated at 27 mpg, and I can actually squeeze 29 mpg out of it on long trips. Not bad at all — especially for such a large, comfortable, safe, and useable vehicle.
Ben,
Take a long look in the mirror. You have a talent for placing words in people’s mouths that they didn’t say themselves… “extravagant fuel-wasters”.. WTF, mate?
Stop accusing me of things that you can’t support with references. Point out exactly where in my post you think I’m showing disdain for the PEOPLE who drive minivans and not the minivans THEMSELVES. Point out exactly where in my post you think I’m denigrating the economic choices of others as selfish and stupid.
I’ll say it again, to be clear… My point is that the rest of the world has choices that we don’t — choices that potentially could make the world a better place — and it’s not exactly clear why we don’t have those choices ourselves.
It seems that you live in a bit of a fantasy world where people say things to you and you interpret them how you like so that you can retaliate in a way that makes you feel comfortable with your choices as a human being.
And don’t play that “you can have your opinion, but no matter what you say it’s totally wrong” BS on me. It’s childish and a typical tactic of people who are completely unaccepting of others’ points of views.
Be very careful when comparing mileage for vehicles that haven’t been tested in the US. Toyota’s Japanese web site (http://toyota.jp/carlineup/name6.html) lists 77mpg and 42mpg for the Prius and the RX400h, respectively, but the US EPA gives a combined city/highway mileage of 46mpg and 25mpg, only 60% of the Japanese mileage. Using that factor to convert the Estima Hybrid’s mileage to a US EPA figure gives 28mpg - respectable, but not as good as it sounds at first glance either.
The bigger question is why that pairing of Toyota’s 2.4l I4 and hybrid motor isn’t in the RAV4, which is already produced here in the US.