Toyota Hiace has felt at home in Japan for decades — without a real rival among mid-size vans. That era looks like it's coming to an end. Fiat Professional is preparing an invasion of this market: the Scudo commercial van made its official Japanese debut at the Japan Truck Show 2026, with Stellantis targeting deliveries for 2027. The exact specification for the Japanese market is still under wraps.
The show floor featured a right-hand-drive six-seat Scudo Crew Cab in UK specification. It measures roughly 4,980 mm long, 1,925 mm wide and 1,905 mm tall — slotting it between the compact Fiat Doblò and the noticeably larger Ducato.
And here's the first claim to superiority: the comparison with Toyota Hiace turns out to be unexpected. The Japanese Hiace Van with a wide body and medium roof measures 4,840 mm long, 1,880 mm wide and 2,105 mm tall. That makes the Scudo longer and wider than the Japanese van, though about 200 mm shorter in height. The super-long Hiace stretches to 5,380 mm — an arena where Fiat isn't competing yet.
Still, the European Scudo lineup goes far beyond one show car. Fiat offers standard cargo vans, the Crew Cab with a second row of seats, and other configurations. Diesel versions come with 1.5-litre and 2.0-litre engines, with some of the two-litre units paired to an eight-speed automatic. There's also an electric E-Scudo.
But carrying that entire lineup over to the future Japanese model is premature — and that's not just a formality. According to Japanese automotive media, Stellantis hasn't yet decided which exact specification it will import in 2027. So a diesel and an 8-speed automatic for the Japanese Scudo remain a guess, not a fact.
For Fiat, there's more at stake than a single model — this is an entry into a more compact segment. Ducato already sells in Japan, used among other things as a base for campers, while Scudo is considerably smaller and closer in size to the commercial vans locals are used to. Just how serious a rival to Hiace it becomes will only be clear once Japanese pricing, payload and the engine lineup are published. But the claim has been staked.
It was previously reported that Fiat will build 200 units of the Topolino Vilebrequin with a new closed body.
