When it comes to cars like Corolla and Civic, everyone gets excited to know something new about it. The current generation of Corolla is in the 11th generation. Corolla is Toyota’s bread and butter with sales in over 150 countries that contributes a total of 20 percent of sales of the entire company. According to Toyota, there are 16 plants around the world where Corolla is manufactured or assembled. Toyota is celebrating 50 years of Corolla existence this year as well. The 11th generation is out for three years now and has been a complete hit. Not only for its US model but the European model is selling like hot cakes too. On the other hand, the 10th Generation Civic has taken over the limelight for now, though we still are not blessed with it in Pakistan as yet. Toyota was working on bringing some face-lift to the current generation of Corolla and Spy Shots were circulating on the web for quite some time. Today, European side of Toyota operations released some pictures for the anticipated face-lift.
At first glance, you will hardly find any changes. But there are new LED taillights with chrome trim as well as the new chrome door handles. At the front, there are new LED headlights with updated chrome grill. Other than that, there are new 17″ alloy wheels. There are no changes as far as the engine or other layouts for the interior. The most impressive change or upgrade is the availability of Toyota’s “Safety Sense System”. The system includes active safety features like lane departure alert, pre-collision system, road sign assist and automatic high beam, which dip low automatically from high for oncoming traffic. Apart from this no new details are available as far as this face-lift is concerned. For current Corolla owners, this face-lift will not be something bothering as there are not any extraordinary changes at all but overall it will be disappointing. The European version will go on sale this Summer.
In North America, Toyota is celebrating the golden jubilee anniversary with the release of limited edition Corolla as well as updating the Corolla. By limited means, only 8000 of such limited units are to be available to customers.
As far as the facelift is concerned; the exterior for the US model gets new BI-LED headlights with a revised front fascia with a new grill and vertical slim fog lights, this makes the car more aggressive looking than the regular model. On the interior, the upgrades include new seats and an upgraded 7″ multi-media system with a premium audio system. Toyota app connectivity E-tune will be standard along with navigation. All limited editions will be getting standard safety systems like Pre-collision system with pedestrian detection function, Dynamic radar cruise control, Lane departure alert with steering assist function as well as Automatic high beams. New 17″ rims will be a standard feature in the limited version. There are no changes as far as engine or transmission.
Toyota also shared a new website: ‘Corolla50‘ where Corolla owners can share their stories. I am sure we have many such stories as almost all of us have spent time with legendary Corolla in our life time in Pakistan.
front lights resembles with the lights of Tesla. of the limited edition one.
their new Prius is giving the similar entertainment system as tesla model S, iPad style.
Failed to understand whats the difference between a Yaris and Corolla, almost same size same options!!! Moreover after failure of Camry and tough competition from Korean Car makers Toyota is now forced to bring in new models every 2-3 years. Usually Toyota didnt bothered to upgrade its cars till 5 years and allowed spare part dealers a comfort zone to store parts and get a handsome profit in long run but this change of models now hitting spare parts dealers also and price of spare parts for Toyota are increasing. Looking at Japanese Cars makers it seems like most of them will go for a merger and settle.
First off, Yaris = Vitz. If you’ve seen the Yaris in the Norh American market, you would understand how small it is compared to the corolla there, which is bigger. Yaris / VItz is sub-compact, Corolla / Civic / Sentra are compact sedans. Camry is midsize and is the best-selling sedan in north america in its class, only recently it has seem some tough competition by Hyundai/Kia and Mazda.
Secondly, the junk we see in Pakistan by Indus Toyota is nothin compared to the upgrades Toyota has done to its corolla for 2014/2015 models , and that first picture you see is NOT the US/Canada corolla. The one at the bottom is,however.
Third, The interior overhaul of Toyota Corolla is again many times better than what we buy in Pakistan.
Finally, the north American corolla has a better, bigger four cylinder engine than the Pakistani 1.3 or 1.6 litre. NA Corolla has up to 2.4 litre engine that’s smooth and actually the same one that’s in their 4-cyl Camry. So let’s not judge Toyota’s future based on the junk they sell in Pakistan.
Aqeeq, i think you missed the plot here. I was referring to Yaris Sedan and size of both cars plus the luxury of Corolla and styling. New models of Corolla and Camry have failed miserably to impress the customers and thats where Korean cars have taken over. Just have a look at Sonata and compare it with Corolla or Azeera with Camry.
Toyota is best when it comes to mechanical stuff but any car in market runs for atleast 5 years or 150K millage easily regardless its a Chinese car or any other. So its styling and options which now entice the customers. Korean and Chinese makers are doing all this stuff cheap and with tons of modern features loaded in their cars makes it an attractive deal. Meanwhile Japanese car makers are still following the old thought of building the best machines with basic features whereas the demand of customers is More features and Good looks at a reasonable price.
Gillette Marketing Strategy is sell the Stick cheap and charge for blades that also applies to auto makers sell the car cheap and make money on Spare Parts and maintenance
Hey Nabeell Shahid, ASA, I was going through these old articles when I came to your comments. Just wanted to let you know that Azera is not supposed to be compared with Camry, Sonata is Camry`s competition. Corolla`s competition is Elantra and Yaris`s competition is Accent. Azera`s in the league of Mark X/ Aurion. I have kept both, Camry and Azera so just updating your info. Cheers