The new Toyota GR Corolla will be officially revealed overnight, but new details published early by Toyota US confirm it will use a heavily uprated version of the Toyota GR Yaris's powertrain.
The Toyota GR Corolla has now officially arrived - see it here.
The long-awaited entry to Toyota's expanding Gazoo Racing performance line-up has previously been shown wearing the division's trademark multicoloured camouflage and with its overall design mostly obscured from view, but these latest images show it completely unwrapped.
It features a much more aggressive body design in line with its performance billing, with an expansive front grille, new bonnet vents, a chunky rear spoiler, flared arches and triple-exit exhausts the most obvious differentiators over the standard Toyota Corolla. Performance alloy wheels and beefy brakes round out the visual overhaul, but unlike the hot Yaris it retains a pair of rear doors.
It uses the same powertrain as its Yaris sibling, but with power hiked up from 258bhp to 300bhp – making this more a rival to the Volkswagen Golf R than the Volkswagen Golf GTI – and torque has been boosted slightly, too, to 273lb ft.
Power is sent to both axles through a six-speed manual gearbox, as in the GR Yaris, with an IMT (intelligent manual transmission) function which essentially serves as a rev matching function for smoother downshifts. Meanwhile, torque vectoring functionality can vary power across the axles from 50/50 to 30/70 either way, to optimise traction in all conditions.
Toyota has yet to confirm performance details of the GR Corolla, but a 0-62mph time nudging 5.0 seconds looks to be well within reach.
A European launch has not been confirmed. All teasers – and these latest details – so far have come from the US, where the GR Yaris is not available, following the withdrawal of the standard Yaris from that market. More details will be given at the debut later tonight.
Join the debate
Add your comment
The rear bodykit looks like a chav home-made effort from a wheelie bin.
If it ain't broke? , don't fix it?, could that be aimed at the type-R?, so new Cars come along, it it puts a big grin on your Face, isn't that the Car for you?, the one you like, afterall, you might not like the type-R.
If its the powertrain from the GR Yaris doeasn't that mean it will also be 4WD? could give its competition which are 2WD something to think about in the wet.
That's correct - this will be a 4WD, also badged as a GR-Four like the Yaris. I haven't paid much attention to Toyota since the 3SGTE days. Will be interesting to see how much power can be extracted from these Corolla. Looking forward to seeing the reviews