Special-edition versions of the Toyota Vellfire and Alphard luxury MPVs – dubbed Golden Eye and Type Gold, respectively – have been revealed for the Japanese market. The special editions feature various cosmetic tweaks, though mechanically remain unchanged.
As all the updates are cosmetic in nature, lets start with the exterior design. The Vellfire Golden Eye features a jet-black finish on the grille, front bumper inserts and tailgate, while all the chrome accents around the side glass-house and door handles, barring the strip on the side-skirt, have been carried forward from the standard model. There are gold inserts in the headlights of the Vellfire too, which is where the special edition gets its name from. Coming to the Alphard Type Gold, the special Alphard logo is finished in gold while the front-end and tailgate sport darkened-chrome elements. The sides get regular chrome accents, as seen on the standard model.
The interiors of both special edition models have also been tweaked, with the standout feature being the new seat upholstery that is part synthetic leather and part synthetic suede. Additionally, there is a leather-wrapped steering wheel, with special wood inserts and black roof-liner also present. Even the smart keys for both MPVs have gold accents. As these special editions are based on similar trims (the Z grade for the Vellfire and S grade for Alphard) and get features like the premium JBL sound system, the 10-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay support, mood lighting and more.
In the Japanese market, both cars are available with either front-wheel-drive (FWD) or all-wheel-drive (AWD) layouts and get a choice of a 2.5-litre petrol and 2.5-litre petrol hybrid powertrain. A version of the latter it available in the Vellfire on sale in India, which produces 117hp and 198Nm of torque, while the two electric motors – 143hp front and 68hp rear – provide it with an AWD layout.
Although Toyota has not made any announcement regarding its plans to bring either of these special editions to our market, the carmaker did recently launch the Vellfire luxury MPV in a single fully-loaded trim at Rs 79.50 lakh (ex-showroom, pan-India).
Viraaj Bhatnagar
Glenn Noronha
Dhruv Dhaka
Dipan Sur
