Part of the brand’s push to incorporate excitement in its cars.
Japanese auto juggernaut Toyota seem to be talking excitedly about a hot Corolla hatch, with those in the know saying that a tuned-up version of the sharply-styled family car is an ‘inevitability’ as part of boss Akio Toyoda’s plan to reinvigorate the marque and bring driving-excitement back into the fold. It’s yet to be concretely confirmed, but sources are saying that the preliminary work on a tarted-up Corolla are already underway, and should join the lineup in the near future.
Toyota’s drive to put driver involvement back into the mix of its cars is evident by the ever-growing presence of its newly-minted performance sub-brand, Gazoo Racing. GR has put its name on a sharpened, supercharged Yaris already, as well as a milder version of the hatch with the hybrid powertrain.
According to UK publication Autocar, it is unclear what powertrain the hotted-up Corolla will use, but it’s worth noting that Europe gets a 2.0-litre hybrid setup with 134kW, in addition to the 1.8-litre 91kW hybrid powertrain that we get here. More than just an output boost, a Corolla GR would most likely sport significant revisions to its suspension, driveline, and braking systems to fully capitalise on the more rigid platform and more potent powertrain.
If we could wish upon a star, we’d love to see the Corolla with the supercharged 1.8-litre engine from the Yaris GRMN, with its 156kW and 250Nm and six-speed manual transmission. That’s highly unlikely though, so we’d best get used to the idea of a Corolla GR Hybrid.
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