What Van? Britain's biggest and best van buyers' guide

Last year we saw Toyota announce its intentions to divert hydrogen energy away from passenger cars and into commercial vehicles. 

This was followed up with details of a hydrogen-powered pick-up trial being led by Toyota GB. Yet Toyota isn’t abandoning other powertrains, far from it, as it has now completed its LCV range with the addition of the Proace Max large van to its line-up. Now with full coverage of ICE and BEV versions, Toyota not only has a full range of panel vans with combustion and zero-emission options but arguably also possesses the most complete line-up of any LCV manufacturer when you add the Corolla Commercial and Land Cruiser Commercial, not to mention Hilux, into the mix. 

Didier Gambart, president of KINTO Europe, Toyota’s ride sharing business, who was vice president of Toyota Europe at the time of our meeting, explained that Toyota sees itself as a hydrogen pioneer in much the same way as it championed hybrids with the Prius.

“We see the future of hydrogen for the LCV,” he told What Van? at the annual Kenshiki Forum. “When it comes to hydrogen, it would be strange [if] Toyota [did] not take a leading role considering our pioneering position. We don’t see the future without an H2 solution. How, and with whom, is something that we cannot disclose because we are in the thinking and discussion process, but for sure the hydrogen solution would make a lot of sense in terms of payload and in terms of towing capacity.” 

Gambart also points out that hydrogen meets the needs of rapid refuelling and range that EVs have yet to establish their credentials in. The Hilux H2 pilot is an example of an obvious use-case by a customer in the UK that has a hydrogen refuelling infrastructure and a desire to decarbonise its commercial vehicles, without compromising on their use. Gambart insists there’s more to come from the trial and that “production at scale” of the hydrogen Hilux is hopefully where the project ends up. However, he is quick to reassert that the development of such products also requires support. 

“We need a [market] by market approach,” he says, explaining that hydrogen products will eventually be available to countries that have developed their infrastructure. “We know that [French President Emmanuel] Macron, wants to develop hydrogen, and they put a lot of resources [into] that. There are also two domestic players that are very much interested; Stellantis and Renault are developing their own hydrogen technology. So, we can assume that France should become a more mature market in the near future when it comes to the hydrogen infrastructure. That’s why it’s a ‘by market approach’ and this is something we are following very closely.” 

He adds: “The golden question remains the development of the infrastructure, and that, of course, we don’t control on our own. We see some competitors moving into that direction as well, so there is recognition from all OEMs that hydrogen should be a suitable powertrain and technology for the future,” Gambart explains.  

His reference to competitors is an interesting one as he is referring to Stellantis’ own activity in the mid-sized van segment with a hydrogen-powered Vauxhall Vivaro. It comes as no coincidence that Gambart identifies the Stellantis brands as the competition, given Toyota’s own reliance on its products for its LCV range. Toyota plans to increase its share of the van market and sees the Stellantis models as the most obvious competition. However, for hydrogen power it’s not clear if Toyota would be looking to venture alone in the market and points back to its current relationship with Stellantis on its LCV range as an example of where the combined strength of partnerships helps everyone. 

“In a hydrogen future, a hydrogen LCV would perfectly make sense, but the reason that made us convinced that we should go with this [Stellantis] partnership is the scale. We have to reach a very difficult [number of sales] to break even or to be profitable in Europe. If you don’t reach a 100,000 [unit] threshold, excluding Hilux, which accounts for roughly 50,000 to 60,000, if you don’t partner with somebody that has the possibility to bring the volume at scale, it’s very difficult to have a profitable business case in Europe. That’s why from a Toyota Group perspective, LCV is something important and something we’re working on. So far in Europe, to reach a sustainable business model, we have to partner with local competitors.” 

In 2023, Toyota reached a new record of more than 140,000 units for its LCV range but has ambitions to exceed 180,000 sales by 2025.