Scheduled to be unveiled at the October 2018 Paris Motor Show, the Corolla badge is being reintroduced for Toyota’s world car status. As it happens, it will be attached to a brand-new Corolla for an entirely new generation of Toyota customers. 

The Auris name-plate has been a valuable one for the UK market, not least because it is attached to every one of the cars carrying it that is built at the company’s Derbyshire manufacturing plant, which sits adjacent to the A38 Derby to Lichfield road. In fact, its position, which arose from a substantial British government contribution, also led to a vastly improved roads network in the area, which includes the Burnaston junction off the excellent A50 dual-carriageway that links Nottingham to Stoke-on-Trent.

Auris has been an important manufacturing pillar for Toyota, even though the car was known as Corolla in many other markets. As you can read from a recent test drive report in this archive, on the current Auris, it is an immensely satisfying model. However, despite its huge-volume and record-breaking popularity, Corolla has never been a model regarded as possessing the highest levels of dynamic capabilities. In fact, it has been little better than boring. Sorry, but even Toyota personnel recognise it!

However, the current management ethos at the firm’s Japanese headquarters has been to grab each model by the scruff of its neck and to introduce a vast array of improvements that include design, trim details, comfort levels and sportiness (where it is needed). Although only a ‘teaser’ shot is available at the moment, rest assured, the new Corolla will whisk Toyota and its indomitable reputation into desirable but unfamiliar territory in coming months.

The new model will be available in hatchback, sports tourer and hybrid petrol-electric forms from the outset.