‘Evolved’ Toyota GR Corolla makes global debut

MANILA: The “evolved” Toyota Gazoo Racing (GR) Corolla has made its global debut.

Last week, Toyota Motor Corporation — through its motorsport arm Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR) — premiered the souped-up version of the Japanese carmaker’s hatchback in California, United States of America.

According to TGR, the Toyota GR Corolla leverages insights gained by competing in motorsports events such as the Super Taikyu Series, which resulted in “evolved” high-speed cornering, acceleration, and cooling.

Here are some of its key innovations:

• Built-in rebound springs in the front and rear shock absorbers (improves stability)
• Raised trailing arm mounting point (reduces rear sagging during acceleration)
• Revised rear coil springs and stabilizer bar spring characteristics (improves ground-gripping performance)
• Increased mid-speed engine torque
• Newly-developed eight-speed Gazoo Racing Direct Automatic Transmission (with air-cooled automatic transmission fluid cooler)
• Improved aerodynamics for cooling and stability
• Improved anti-lock braking system
• Special bolts on select chassis components
• Improved steering
• Improved clutch pedal operability

Powering the “evolved” Toyota GR Corolla is a 1.6-liter gasoline engine mated to the aforementioned in-house transmission system developed by TGR. It also gets a Gazoo Racing-Four four-wheel drive system with electronic multi-plate clutch with three selectable modes.

The said setup dishes out some 299 horsepower with 400 Newton-meters (Nm) of torque, which was increased by 30 Nm from the previous version.

Suspension-wise, the latest iteration of the rally-bred model uses a MacPherson strut at the front with a double wishbone arrangement at the rear. Limited slip differential systems are also installed front and back.

Ventilated disc brakes at the front (18-inch aluminum, opposed four-pot calipers) and at the rear (16-inch aluminum, opposed two-pot calipers) handle deceleration and halts. They are housed in 18-inch matte black 15-spoke cast aluminum shod in 235/40 series Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tires.

According to Toyota, the marque is considering product rollout beyond North America, which means there is a possibility that it would land on Philippine roads.

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