What's the different between the G or V?

One of the common question frequently asked by potential Toyota Alphard buyer is what's the different between Alphard G and Alphard V label at the rear of the giant. The alphabet G and V actually refer to the logo on the right side of the tailgate as shown below.

There are actually two reasons for the differentiation. For owner who is buying imported used Alphard locally, the difference is most obvious on the front grille only. Look at the photo below for pre-facelifted model.


Alphard G (photo on the left) has the front grille in full chrome and it has two horizontal grille lines across the center of the grille with the top line intercepting the Alphard logo. Also noticed there is a lot of smaller vertical grille lines.

Alphard V (photo on the right) has the top of the grille in chrome and the rest in body colour. It has four horizontal grille lines across the center of the grille with the top two lines intercepting the Alphard logo and there are only 5 vertical lines.

For new-facelifted model, there are some slight variations on the number of horizontal grille lines for both model. Alphard G (photo on the left) has three horizontal grille lines across the center of the grille with the top two lines intercepting the Alphard logo. There are still many vertical lines but now they are more slanted to the center.

Alphard V (photo on the right) now comes with two horizontal lines and the 5 vertical lines are slightly thicker compared to the pre-facelifted model.

What is more significant to the original buyers in Japan is that these G or V models are actually supplied by two chain of dealers, ToyoPet and Netz (http://netz.jp/). ToyoPet (which is one of Toyota business unit) supply the G model while Netz supply the V model. Therefore, at time you might see a sticker on the tailgate that reads "Yokohama Toyopet" which means that is a G model supplied by the ToyoPet dealer in Yokohama.

There are also regional complex dealer that obtain the car from either of the master distributor and sell it to end user. Therefore at time you might see some sticker like the one below.


Updates: Starting with the 2nd generation Alphard, ToyoPet supplies Toyota Alphard only while Netz supplies Toyota Vellfire.