This is no April Fools joke: the long-awaited Toyota GR Corolla will debut this Friday, April 1, as the more practical sibling of the sold-out GR Yaris.
After years of teasers, leaks and rumours, the 2023 Toyota GR Corolla will at last make its public debut this Friday, 1 April 2022, ahead of first overseas deliveries expected towards the end of the year.
Two teaser images and a video released by Toyota provide a glimpse at the new hot hatch – and while it’s not confirmed to be the GR Corolla, the teased car’s body lines match that of a standard Corolla hatch, and the slew of past teasers suggest this is unlikely to be anything else.
Compared to the relatively mundane body modifications pictured in past teasers of camouflaged cars, the latest teaser provides our first look at the production GR Corolla’s blistered front wheel arches, accompanied by black cooling vents and GR badges.
The hot Corolla appears to share its 18-inch black alloy wheels with the smaller GR Yaris – albeit the standard alloys, rather than the GR Yaris Rallye’s forged items – joined by red brake calipers, sticky performance tyres, and ‘GR-FOUR’ embossing, seemingly on the side skirts.
As reported previously, the GR Corolla is expected to be powered by a version of its smaller sibling’s 1.6-litre turbocharged three-cylinder engine, driving all four wheels through a six-speed manual transmission as standard (though rumours suggest an automatic may arrive later on).
Whereas the GR Yaris develops 200kW and 370Nm outside of Europe, the Corolla is expected to up power to 221kW.
However, the more potent GR Corolla may not be any quicker than the GR Yaris, given it’s expected to retain the standard Corolla hatchback’s five-door body shell – rather than the Yaris’ bespoke body, which incorporates plenty of aluminium and carbon fibre.
For all we know so far about the new Toyota GR Corolla, click here for our earlier story detailing Toyota USA’s past teasers for the new hot hatchback – the US division’s first in decades, given the GR Yaris is not sold there.
The 2023 Toyota GR Corolla will be revealed on Friday 1 April, at 12:30pm AEDT (NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and ACT time). Click here to watch the reveal.
Australian launch timing is likely to be announced at the reveal later this week.
The post 2023 Toyota GR Corolla confirmed for Friday reveal appeared first on Drive.