Icons of the Road: Toyota Tarago | Drive Flashback

In 2002 we celebrated what was once a mainstay on our roads, the slightly space-age looking Toyota Tarago. Australians bought them in their tens of thousands.

Original story by Pete Mackay published in Drive on 4 April, 2002.

A vehicle that was part minibus, part goldfish bowl, part ‘chariot’ from Lost in Space, the Toyota Tarago was a pioneer in people movers – a craze that was spawned by the success of the legendary VW Kombi in the 1960s and a fad that was to reshape the motoring industry in the ’80s and ’90s.

Released by Toyota in 1983, this manoeuvrable little beast, which could turn on a 20-Yen piece, became immensely popular with large families and at one stage was responsible for 49 per cent of all people mover sales nationwide.

In fact, with the Tarago selling nearly 64,000 models here alone, its extraordinary success played a big hand in lifting Toyota from third to second, just behind Ford, as top dog in local sales in only its second year of production.

The Aussie-only Tarago was known as the Toyota TownAce in Japan

Toyota was ecstatic but Holden was not as impressed, and legend has it that if you look hard enough you can still see the faint chalk outlines where “I must try harder – really and truly” was written 100 times on the GMH boardroom blackboard.

The Tarago was a workhorse in the true sense, but having one often proved a rod for the owner’s back since they continually found themselves ferrying their kids – and all their kids’ friends – to and from school, to and from sport, in fact to and from every event within the radius of a tank of unleaded or diesel fuel.

With a Tarago, that well-used term “Mum’s taxi” was never more apt.

Smooth, rounded, some might be even tempted to say oval-shaped, one Tarago was recently seen roaming around Melbourne with the registration ‘THE EGG’, which is possibly the most perfectly matched number plate seen since HOT GT, COOL HR and the memorable TOWED P-76.

Now into its third generation, and sacrificing strength for size like so many other vehicles today, the Tarago wasn’t so hot in a bingle but it had one big advantage over its competition in a collision.

Considering how it looked, just before impact you could always wave your arms wildly in the air and yell “Danger, Danger Will Robinson!”

So, what happened next?

Australia’s enthusiasm for people movers has waned since those heady days of the 1980s.

That waning is almost entirely down to the advent of the sport utility vehicle. With many brands now offering seven-seat SUVs in their line-up, families no longer feel the need to ferry their loved ones in a van-based people mover.

Which is a pity, as vehicles like the Kia Carnival and its seating for eight, provide a far more practical solution for ferrying large families than any seven-seat SUV ever could.

The Kia Carnival has inherited the Tarago’s mantle as Queen of the People Movers

Toyota retired the Tarago in 2019, signalling the end of the nameplate’s 36-year life in Australia. Its replacement, the Toyota Granvia, hasn’t set the sales charts alight in the same way the Tarago once did.

So far in 2023, Australians have bought just 72 of the HiAce-based Granvia, the bulk of those likely to commercial operators. Its outsold by rivals from both ends of the people mover spectrum, the upmarket Mercedes-Benz V-Class with sales so far in 2023 of 218 and the Chinese-built LDV Mifa (214).

The Kia Carnival, meanwhile, enjoys a stranglehold on the segment, with an 81.6 per cent market share. Sales of the popular people mover number 6709 to the end of July, proving there’s life still in what was once the mainstay of large families everywhere. RM

What are your memories of the venerable Toyota Tarago? Let us know in the comments below?

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