This might be the 2879th teaser of the upcoming Toyota GR Corolla hatch, but there’s some good news on the horizon: we now have a debut date.
The car will be revealed in all its pumped-up all-out madness at 9.30pm on March 31, New York time — which, if our time zone maths is correct, is 12.30pm April 1, Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time.
From Toyota USA’s latest teaser, we can see the GR Corolla will feature pumped-up front fenders with a prominent vertical black vent along the trailing edge of the wheel arch.
The hot hatch will also come with GR-branded red brake calipers, and the GT Four all-wheel drive system.
An earlier teaser indicated the GR Corolla will be powered by the same 1.6-litre turbocharged three-cylinder turbo engine — codenamed G16E-GTS — as GR Yaris.
In the Yaris the 1.6-litre three-pot makes 200kW and 370Nm. It’s connected to a six-speed manual, and a four-wheel drive system capable of sending up to 70 per cent of its torque to the rear wheels.
A Japanese outlet has reported the company is testing an eight-speed automatic in the GR Yaris. It’s possible, eventually, both the manual and automatic will be offered in the GR Corolla as it would improve the business case.
Toyota has yet to confirm how much the engine will make in the larger, heavier Corolla, but rumours indicate it could have 220kW at its disposal.
It will be interesting to see where in the hot hatch hierarchy the GR Corolla will be pitched, as all of its natural competition come with larger displacement engines and an extra cylinder.
Current front-wheel drive competitors include the 180kW/370Nm Volkswagen Golf GTI, 206kW/392Nm Hyundai i30 N, 206kW/420Nm Ford Focus ST, and 221kW/420Nm Renault Megane RS Trophy 300.
There are also all-wheel drive rivals to consider, such as the 225kW/400Nm Mercedes-AMG A35 4Matic, and 235kW/420Nm Volkswagen Golf R.
Australian availability has yet to be confirmed, but there seems to be a better-than-zero per cent chance of it coming Down Under given the company filed for a GR Corolla trademark back in 2020.
