Toyota has taken the wraps off the new Toyota Corolla Commercial Hybrid Electric Van.

The world premiere of the new Corolla Commercial van will make it the first full hybrid van in its class when it goes on sale next year.

It will be built at Toyota’s Burnaston plant, where all Toyota Corollas are made for Europe and will use the same self-charging tech as the Corolla hatchback and Touring Sports passenger models.

Read our Toyota Corolla Commercial Hybrid review

Only one model of the Corolla Commercial is due to be built and will be based on the Corolla Touring Sports 1.8 Hybrid model. The rear seats will be removed and replaced with a proper load area. No other changes are necessary with the same multilink rear suspension and expected fuel economy of between 55.3mpg and 62.7mpg.

That will mean the Toyota Corolla van will have CO2 emissions of between 102g/km and 115g/km. Toyota also says the Toyota Corolla Commercial will have a towing capacity of 750kg with a braked trailer.

Other figures, include payload and volume will be confirmed once the vehicle has been homologated.

The Toyota Corolla Commercial will be able to drive with the diesel engine running or as a pure electric when in EV mode. The new hybrid van will line-up alongside the current range of diesel vans that include the Toyota Proace, Proace City and Land Cruiser Commercial as well as the Proace Electric and Proace City Electric.

Read the Toyota Proace review

“Toyota’s hybrid technology has well-proven reliability and delivers day-to-day savings on running costs with its fuel efficiency. It’s a unique addition to the Toyota Professional range and the wider LCV market and we’re confident will attract strong interest,” said Mark Roden, Toyota (GB) operations director.

Order books will open later on in the year with early indications from Toyota of it having an on the road price of £22,134.

Word on the street in Burnaston is that there'll be a Toyota Corolla van built at the plant next year.

The Derbyshire plant already produces the Corolla family and a hybrid van would do nicely in helping Toyota reduce their overall CO2 outputs from all those Toyota Hilux pick-up trucks they sell.

Don't expect much more than the rear seats to be removed and some sticky black film on the rear windows but a Corolla van would be a welcome addition to a segement of the market that disappeared many years ago when the Vauxhall Astravan went off sale.

The Corolla commercial vehicle will join the rapidly expanding Toyota commercial vehicle range which includes the small Toyota Proace City and medium-sized Toyota Proace. There is also the Toyota Hilux pick-up truck and Toyota Land Cruiser Commercial.

Read the Toyota Proace review

Toyota will unveil the new van at the CV Show on Tuesday. Stay tuned for more from the show.