Toyota's next Corolla leaked – again

Will the real 2013 Toyota Corolla please stand up? New images of the 11th generation Corolla - the world's best-selling car with almost 40 million units sold since 1966 - have been leaked from a Japanese brochure, confirming the new car's edgy new design.

Replacing the current Corolla, which has been around since 2007 but still proved 20 per cent more popular so far this year, the new model takes a leaf out of the Lexus design book and will be a crucial car for the Japanese company as rivals such as the Mazda3, Holden Cruze and Hyundai i30 continue to attract big numbers of Australian small-car buyers.

The new Corolla hatch is expected to be unveiled before the Paris Motor Show in September, as early as August, and as revealed by these images – first spotted on Japanese website Response – the redesigned five-door will wear a far more angular design than Corollas past, with slim-line headlights matched by a similarly horizontal tail-light design.

While sportier front and rear bumper treatments also mark the new model as a much less conservative proposition than its predecessors, we also get a look at the interior for the first time, revealing a contemporary and altogether sharper motif that - like the exterior - eschews the rounded shapes of its predecessor, exhibiting sharp angles and only mild curves.

Australian motorists will get their first look at the new Corolla hatch at the 2012 Australian International Motor Show in Sydney in late October, with a retail launch to follow immediately after, but the next-generation Corolla sedan is not due to emerge for another 12 months.

It's not yet clear how much work has gone into the chassis, and whether the new Corolla's dynamics will mirror its sleek and sporty new look.

We do know that Toyota Australia has been secretly testing the all-new Corolla in Australia for more than a month now, presumably to improve the car's suitability to local conditions.

Greg Gardner, Toyota Australia's Corporate Manager for Product Planning, hinted to motoring.com.au that the car would have better handling characteristics than the current Corolla.

"It's a lot lower, it's a got a lower centre of gravity," he revealed, adding: "It's got a couple of nice interior features - a lot of brightwork, things like that - and a lot of influence from the European market."

Though Mr Gardner didn't say how much fettling Toyota Australia would undertake, he did say that there would be some tweaks made by Toyota Australia engineers.

"There will be some development done by the technical centre," he said.

Exact dimensions are not known, but the global powertrain rollout is likely to include a pair of four-cylinder petrol engines - a 79kW 1.5-litre unit and a 106kW 1.8, with the latter almost certain to be the main offering in the Australian market when the car launches later in 2012.

European versions of the 2013 Toyota small car are expected to be offered with BMW-sourced diesel engines from 2014. Late in 2011 a technology sharing alliance was formalised between BMW and Toyota and the partnership is expected to extend to sportscar development too.

However, hybrid and diesel versions of the new Corolla – which is known as the Auris in other markets - are unlikely to become available in Australia.

Stay tuned for hands-on impressions of the new Toyota Corolla later in the year.

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