The Toyota Yaris ECOVan may be the most sensible object ever built

Enter a Toyota showroom bellowing ‘a Yaris’ as your only criteria and you’ll currently be offered three things: an automatic hybrid hatchback, a soft-roading crossover, or a homologation special road-legal rally car.

Quite the spread, huh. Like when the local curry house also does fish and chips and pizzas. Well, the Yaris has just spread its wings even further, for it is now a van. Bet you didn’t see that coming.

And it might just be the most sensible object ever conceived by human brains. You’re looking at the Toyota Yaris Hybrid ECOVan, essentially the regular hybrid hatch with the back seats scooped out, a wooden floor (with rubber matting) laid in their place and a dividing cage put in to stop your precious cargo throwing itself wantonly at the dashboard.

Needless to say it’s roomier than the regular Yaris, with 720 litres of luggage space to swallow up to 430 kilos of pay load. The recently launched Suzuki Jimny van, cute as it is, offers 863 litres but just 150 kilos. If you’re carrying heavier things over flatter ground, this is the Japanese sort-of-van you want.

The rear windows remain (with adorable little winders like it’s still 1993) but can be blanked off to display the name of your business. You’ve a choice of trim levels, though none bring the steel wheel aesthetic and bog-standard interior we kinda crave from a commercial vehicle. Alloys, CarPlay, climate control and a suite of active safety stuff can be found on all ECOVans.

Justifying the cloyingly capped-up ECO bit is the same 114bhp petrol-electric setup as the stock Yaris hatch, with a 1.5-litre 3cyl engine providing most of the motive force and a CVT gearbox filtering power to the front wheels. No, the 257bhp turbo engine and boisterous 4WD system of the GR Yaris hot hatch doesn’t appear to be on the options list.

It should be, though; rally-rep van has a nice ring to it. But you’d be a fool to bet against the next instalment of Toyota Yaris being even more diverse yet. Two-seat roadster? Stretch limo with swimming pool? Tell us what Toyota should do next below…