Sitting in a quiet corner of FAW Toyota’s Auto Guangzhou booth is the facelifted Twelfth-generation Toyota Corolla sedan – surprising given that is the most well-liked version of what remains to be the best-selling vehicle of all time. The dearth of attention to this automotive belies the numerous changes which were made, geared toward keeping it fresh after a whopping seven years available on the market.
As seen in a previous leak, the Corolla receives an all-new front end that takes a page from the most recent Prius and Camry, sporting Toyota’s latest “hammerhead” design lined framed by C-shaped headlights. Lower down, you’ll find L-shaped bumper corners with integrated fog lights leading into the slimmer centre air intake.
The cross-spoke alloy wheels are also latest, looking suspiciously just like the rollers on the facelifted sixth-generation Lexus ES from 2015 – they even have the identical 17-inch diameter. Also added is a black triangle on the trailing fringe of the rear quarter light windows to visually lengthen the glasshouse, while on the rear, an illuminated red strip has been added to attach the (now smoked) inverted L-shaped taillights.
Even larger changes are to be found inside. There’s a way more modern dashboard and door card design incorporating full-width air vents and one other row of centre vents underneath. Below this you’ll discover a wider centre console with dual smartphone holders (certainly one of which houses a Qi wireless charger), as is now in fashion in China.
The Corolla continues to employ an 8.8-inch digital instrument display, however the centre touchscreen is now a floating unit measuring a large (by Toyota standards no less than) 12.9 inches across, running on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chip. Controversially, the physical air-con switchgear has been replaced by in-touchscreen controls; it stays to be seen if this will probably be carried over to global markets where the automotive’s typical buyer profile is normally rather more conservative.
It’s all change under the bonnet as well. Out go the Chinese-market 1.2 litre 9NR-FTS four-cylinder and 1.5 litre M15B-FTS three-pot engines, in favour of a 171 PS 2.0 litre M20E-FTS naturally-aspirated mill that’s likely mated to a CVT. There’s also a hybrid model that uses a 98 PS 1.8 litre Atkinson-cycle engine and dual electric motors, together with a brand new nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) battery. Toyota claims this variant is able to a combined fuel consumption of 4.13 litres per 100 km and a spread of 1,041 km.
Could we see the facelifted Corolla in global markets resembling Malaysia? Such a far-reaching upgrade is actually needed, given the Twelfth generation’s age and the indisputable fact that the out-there next-gen model still seems a ways away from reaching production. Nonetheless, we are going to probably receive a less fancy infotainment system and a distinct engine – likely the identical 139 PS/172 Nm 2ZR-FE 1.8-litre Dual VVT-i mill as before.
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This Article First Appeared At paultan.org
