Toyota Corolla GR to take on Hyundai i30 N
Development for a Corolla hot hatch continues and Toyota is eyeing off Hyundai's N brandIn the hot hatch world, cars like the Golf GTI, Honda Civic Type R and Renault Megane RS reign supreme.
They've got heritage to back up their performance but the Hyundai i30 N has proved newcomers can make a significant impact, and Toyota is looking very closely at how the Hyundai N brand has gone about its business when developing its own hot hatch.
Toyota's performance car resurgence is gaining momentum and one man is credited with elevating the brand's reputation and his name is Tetsuya Tada.
As the chief engineer of the Toyota 86 and new Supra he's also playing a significant part in the launching of Toyota's high-performance sub-brand GAZOO Racing, or GR for short.
The Toyota Supra will be Australia’s first GR-badged model when it arrives here around October 2019, and a go-fast version of the world's top-selling car -- the Corolla – could be the next.
Australian executives are lobbying hard to get the Corolla GR hot hatch fast-tracked, and it could look like the pumped-up Toyota Corolla by Super Street (pictured), but Tada-san says the GR product strategy is still being finalised.
"We have lots of requests from different countries, so it's really, really challenging to decide on the order [of performance models]."
The Hyundai i30 N is now one of the benchmark hot hatches in the segment, having won several comparisons at carsales.com.au based on its all-round abilities – not just lap times.
Tada concurred that Hyundai’s N division has done a thorough job of investing the time and resources required to get its hot hatch right.
"It's not just Hyundai. Other car brands are doing this too, so we are researching this and we have to create the [right] brand strategy," he said.
Given Tada's cautionary tone, it is likely the mooted Toyota Corolla GR hot hatch is further away from introduction than previously thought.
Toyota's sports car maestro said the scope for the go-fast GR sub-brand to spread its influence across more models is significant, but refused to confirm which model will be the next cab off the GR rank.
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