New Toyota GR Corolla hot hatch to feature all-wheel drive – report

By: CAR magazine

A fresh report out of Japan claims the rumoured Toyota GR Corolla will feature all-wheel drive, suggesting it will target Volkswagen’s Golf R rather than the GTI.

An earlier rumour said the GR Corolla would employ the same turbocharged 1,6-litre three-cylinder petrol engine as the GR Yaris. But, according to Japanese publication Best Car, the Corolla will also gain its smaller sibling’s all-wheel-drive system.

The report says the all-paw GR Corolla will be offered with a six-speed manual gearbox, while its turbocharged G16E-GTS heart will deliver the same 200 kW and 370 N.m as it does in the three-door Yaris.

Interestingly, Best Car furthermore claims the GR Corolla will break cover either late in 2020 or early in 2021, contrasting with claims from the UK the hot hatch will go into production only in 2023.

Of course, rumours of a GR Corolla hot hatch have been circulating for some time. In March 2020, Toyota filed an application to trademark the “GR Corolla” badge in Australia. Toyota in North America then seemingly confirmed the hot hatch in a social media post.

At the end of April 2020, Toyota South Africa Motors said it would “very much like” to add a high-performance GR-badged Corolla to its line-up but pointed out such a model had yet to be confirmed. The company also told CARmag.co.za the new GR Yaris hot hatch was “likely” to launch locally only in 2021 after we spotted it on Toyota Gazoo Racing SA’s website.

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