Achieving success in the car industry is like dealing with fashion: you can shift between ups and downs lots of times and very easily. Therefore, the task of maintaining the sales stable at high numbers sometimes demands bolder efforts just like what Ford, Opel and Volkswagen did, in different times, when replaced Escort, Kadett and Beetle with Focus, Astra and Golf after decades. So if all those newcomers ended as good-sellers as their predecessors, why couldn’t Toyota pull off a similar “revolution” of its own?
Such changes were increasingly needed over the last years not only because the current generation was effectively getting old but because the entire car was doing it, actually. Toyota is about to complete forty million Corollas sold over almost fifty years around the world, but since long ago the model has depended essentially on objective values, such as comfort and reliability. It could receive sporty or upscale versions, but a Corolla was always seen as a “common” car, attracting most of those clients mostly for being a good deal than for any other reason. Toyota needed to change that because such qualities have become each time less attractive even at low-cost markets. There are all kinds of budgets while choosing a car, but the tendency in nowadays is that if a buyer hasn’t entered a Dacia or Škoda dealership, it’s probably looking for a more emotional car. In other words, a car that expresses some characteristic more than others, such as particular styling, sportivity, off-road potential or elegance, rather than focusing on being cheap. A car like the latest Chevrolet Cruze, Dodge Dart, Ford Focus, Hyundai Elantra and Corolla’s (very) long-time archenemy, Honda Civic. They’ve already started to take Toyota’s market and this is very far from being a coincidence. That’s why the Japanese automaker needed to go big with its new sedan.
Introducing the eleventh generation’s design becomes really easy if the spectator has seen at least one picture of the stunning Furia Concept. Corolla acquired a very interesting personality of its own, rather than being a reduced Camry. The new lines are way sportier, in order to drop the horizontal “length-highlighting” design in favor of a more dynamic set, filling the some-inches-increased external size with several details such as irregular shapes and imponent creases. However, the bigger brother has inspired Toyota to repeat the strategy of offering different interpretations of the same design according to the market. The North-American received the boldest version to prove how bad Toyota wants to change how Corolla is seen by that market. The European version’s exclusive elements are more elegant, on the other hand, rather than “more boring”. The intention was to suit better each market individually, because the first one takes this sedan as a compact car, and therefore more focused on young clients, while the latter seeks a more conservative public and somewhat higher price ranges. As you can see in the pictures, the first one brings more aggressive grilles and irregularly-shaped lights, while the other features chrome accents and bigger lights – don’t you see a slight Lexus inspiration on its front grilles?
Toyota’s decision on creating a 3.9-inches longer wheelbase was followed by repositioned rear seat and slimmer front seats’ foam, everything to give much better rear space than the outgoing car’s. Both versions received a very different console, with much more horizontal lines that make an attractive cabin only by being modern, rather than faking luxury items like the predecessor did. The North-American version will offer four versions. The only engine option will be the carried-over four-cylinder 1.8L with 132 hp and 128 lb-ft, which in the debuting LE Eco uses higher compression ratio and the Valvetronic system, reaching 140 hp, 126 lb-ft and 5% better consumption. The standard gearbox is a manual six-speed, but the base L trim can be upgraded with the outgoing car’s four-speed automatic. All the others, however, can debut Toyota’s new CVTi-S transmission with seven virtual gears, which received enormous efforts from Toyota to resemble more of a conventional automatic’s feel. This system receives an extra Eco mode when equipping LE Eco to perform some driving changes in order to reduce the consumption. This car will be always very well-equipped, with eight airbags, climate control, electric steering, power door locks and Bluetooth connectivity as standard. S version will add the exclusive visual items and dashboard, which changes the others’ three gauges in favor of two, with a 3.5-inch digital screen in the middle.