Toyota HiAce

The Toyota HiAce is a light commercial vehicle that Toyota first launched in October 1967 and has since built in a wide range of bodies, including a minivan, minibus, panel van, crew van, pickup truck, taxi and ambulance. Toyota Auto Body, a Toyota subcontractor, led its development in the late 1960s as a small one-box van like the European ones of the time, something not yet seen in Japan. At its introduction it came as a cab-over pickup, a delivery van and a stretched commuter vehicle, a smaller alternative to the larger Coaster minibus. It followed the 1950 Volkswagen Transporter and the 1961 Chevrolet Greenbrier cab-over vans. Vans first sold in Europe have largely been exported to Africa and Southeast Asia as public transport.