Sitting in a quiet corner of FAW Toyota’s Auto Guangzhou booth is the facelifted 12th-generation Toyota Corolla sedan – surprising given this is the most popular version of what is still the best-selling vehicle of all time. The lack of attention to this car belies the significant changes that have been made, aimed at keeping it fresh after a whopping seven years on the market.
As seen in a previous leak, the Corolla receives an all-new front end that takes a page from the latest 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 new, looking suspiciously similar to the rollers on the facelifted sixth-generation Lexus ES from 2015 – they even have the same 17-inch diameter. Also added is a black triangle at the trailing edge of the rear quarter light windows to visually lengthen the glasshouse, while at the rear, an illuminated red strip has been added to connect the (now smoked) inverted L-shaped taillights.
Even bigger changes are to be found inside. There’s a far more modern dashboard and door card design incorporating full-width air vents and another row of centre vents underneath. Below this you’ll find a wider centre console with dual smartphone holders (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, but the centre touchscreen is now a floating unit measuring a massive (by Toyota standards at least) 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 Controversially, the physical air-con switchgear has been replaced by in-touchscreen controls; it remains to be seen if this will be carried over to global markets where the car’s typical buyer profile is usually much more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, along with a new nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) battery. Toyota claims this variant is capable of a combined fuel consumption of 4.13 litres per 100 km and a range of 1,041 km.
Could we see the facelifted Corolla in global markets such as Malaysia? Such a far-reaching upgrade is certainly necessary, given the 12th generation’s age and the fact that the out-there next-gen model still seems a ways away from reaching production. However, we will probably receive a less fancy infotainment system and a different engine – likely the same 139 PS/172 Nm 2ZR-FE 1.8-litre Dual VVT-i mill as before.
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