SPY PICS: Toyota's next Corolla
All change for Australia's – and the world's -- top-selling carHere are the first spy shots of Toyota's second-generation Auris, which will arrive here as the replacement for Australia's most popular new car, the Corolla, by 2018.
By then the 11th-generation Corolla hatch, which went on sale Down Under in October 2012, will be more than five years old and in need of reinforcements to fend off the charge from popular small cars like next month's facelifted Mazda3 and next year's all-new Hyundai i30.
The 2018 Corolla will come out fighting though, bringing one of the biggest step changes in its long life, which dates back to 1966, since which time it has found more than 40 million homes globally and close to 1.5 million in Australia.
As you can see from these images taken in Germany, the 12th generation of the world's biggest car-maker's biggest selling model won't bring radical new proportions or even adventurous new body surfaces.
That said, its headlights and grille are lower than before, the wing mirrors are mounted intriguingly high up on the A-pillar and, although the rear-end looks near-identical to the one on the model it replaces, there's a revised beltline and new C-pillar treatment.
It will, however, be based on the Japanese giant's new NGA-C platform, a variation of the Toyota New Global Architecture that debuted beneath this year's new Prius and will also underpin next year's all-new C-HR compact SUV.
And for pointers to what the next Corolla's redesigned interior, look no further than the RAV's little brother.
As with the Mk4 Prius, the stiffer and lighter platform should bring improvements in dynamics, ride, refinement and efficiency, which will also be aided by the same 1.2-litre turbo-petrol engine that will power the C-HR.
Delivering 85kW of power and 185Nm of torque in the C-HR, the downsized turbo four will need to be wound up a little for the next Corolla to be competitive alongside the 107kW 1.8-litre i30 and the 114kW 2.0-litre Mazda3.
That would also ensure the new Corolla is more spirited than its sedate predecessor, which offers 103kW/173Nm from its 1.8-litre four combined with manual and CVT auto transmissions.
They should carry over to the new Corolla, as should the Mk4 Prius' latest petrol-electric hybrid powertrain into the new Corolla Hybrid.
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