Toyota Dog Minivan Looks like a Labrador Puppy in Japan, We Want to Tickle Its Belly

The vehicle underneath this puppy suit is the all-new Sienta minivan, which made its debut a few months ago. Usually, it's painted bright yellow or green, but a full coat of fur has covered every metal or plastic panel. They've even given it a set of dog ears and a tail. No, we don't know if there's a wiggling mechanism, but we hope there is.

It doesn't take a keen eye to notice that the Toyota logo on the front was replaced by a dog nose or that the Toyopet Store is essentially inside a shopping mall.

We've now discovered there's a section of Toyota's website dedicated to companions of the four-legged kind, appropriately named dog.toyota.jp. It shares information about Toyota owners who love their dogs, provides tips on traveling in their company and sells a few branded goods.

Immediately after presenting the new Sienta, Toyota also showed "Smile Again," a Toyota Dog Circle web-only video, on August 25.

The hero of the story is a father, the lone parent of a young daughter. Since she had to leave for college, he gradually became less energetic. Meanwhile, his relationship with his dog is not going well as he becomes too lethargic to play fetch or go out fishing with him.

Despite humans and dogs being unable to exchange words, they can still communicate their feelings, and that's precisely what Toyota wants us to see in this tear-jerker. At the end of the clip, the man says his dog remembers what his smiling face looks like and misses it, so they go on a fishing adventure, "just between us guys."