2019 Tokyo Motor Show: Van Life, Japan Style

Van life was a big deal in the U.S. in the ’70s. Remember those port-hole windows, shag carpeted interior walls and ceilings, stripe jobs, and “If this van’s a rockin’…” stickers? There’s none of that extroverted nonsense in Japan, but mono-space one-box vehicles are everywhere around here, and some of them manage to exude a bit of personality. Here are some of our favorites we spotted around the show floor and grounds.

Remember the Nissan Quest minivan? It departed our market (or was it the other way around?) after 2017, but it lives on in Japan as the Elgrand. Right about now, you Quest owners may be wondering what it would take to graft this handsome face onto your family steed for a little JDM coolness, am I right? (Answer: probably more than your van is already worth). Meanwhile, Toyota rolled out its Elgrand competitor at this year’s show, dubbed Granace, a name that hints at its step up in luxury—as signified by its prominent grille and posh leather interior.

There was at least one van at the Tokyo show that paid homage to our hippie van culture. Parked out on a mall between two show halls with a bunch of food trucks, this Toyota Hiace was kitted out by Japanese upfitter Craftplus. Check out the wooden cabinetry, flooring, and steering wheel…and that leafy-pattern upholstery! Beats shag carpeting any day. The rooftop tent should also keep campers out of reach of the Asiatic black and Ezo brown bears that live in Japan. Craftwork sells similar upfit kits for the Hiace’s chief forward-control competitor from Nissan, the similarly styled NV350, which is sometimes called Urvan. Nissan introduced this new Black Gear appearance package at the show.

Okay, this one is really trying hard to look less like a kei-class van and more like an SUV, with its longer-than-normal hood and SUV stance. And indeed it’s very much a sibling of Suzuki’s mini-me Wrangler/Discovery kei-ute, the Jimny. Check out these unusual-for-a-kei-car features: standard live-axle rear-wheel drive with optional all-wheel drive and a center differential lock plus hill descent control. Sure, the ground clearance is less than Jimny’s and there’s an independent control-arm front suspension instead of the Jimny’s twin live axles, but the Hustler has to be the second most believable SUV in the kei class after the Jimny. It even offers knobby off-road tires, albeit skinny 17s. And there’s even a version in pink!

Note the striking similarity between these two kei-class vehicles that just arrived on the market earlier this year. Kei cars must fit within a strict 3.40 x 1.48 meter (133.9 x 58.3 inch) footprint with two height classes. They qualify for much lower taxes, hence about 30 percent of Japanese car sales are kei cars. NMKV, a Nissan/Mitsubishi joint venture, developed and builds both of these badge-engineered boxes. They offer an S-Hybrid option, LED headlamps, 9.0-inch nav system, a choice of front- or all-wheel drive, and on the Nissan, ProPILOT Assist smart cruise/lane keeping system. They both also feature a rear bench seat that can slide 9.4 inches fore/aft to apportion rear leg and cargo room as needed. We might take some convincing of the Nissan’s fitness to wear its “Highway Star” badge, however…

Honda‘s N Van and Daihatsu’s Tanto share no common architecture or manufacture, but each offers the interesting feature of having no B -pillar. Both the front and rear doors can be opened and closed independently. Honda and Daihatsu chose to illustrate different ways of exploiting this feature: Honda set up a large toy vending machine in the huge opening between the A- and C-pillars. Daihatsu showed off its handicap-assisting Welcome Seat Lift feature. The passenger seat swivels around and then extends out and down to aid transition to/from a wheelchair. (Daihatsu’s range of “welfare” vehicle options also includes a Welcome Turn Seat that merely swivels without extending and lowering, a Power Crane to assist stowing a wheelchair in back, and a Sloper model with a rear wheelchair ramp).

Okay, one’s a tall kei-class car and the other’s a proper minivan, but they both seem to be channeling the tailfin look of a 1960 Plymouth. I mean, look at how the bodywork kicks up at the D-pillar! Mitsu’s K-Wagon is aimed at families with small kids, as the sliding rear side door is easier for them to work than the eK X’s hinged ones). The Serena offers an e-Power series hybrid powertrain, with a powerful electric motor driving the wheels as a 1.2-liter engine generates electricity, running at an optimal speed and returning 62 mpg. An interesting feature usually found on trucks and SUVs: the Serena’s power running boards.