Toyota Auris - radical redesigned of Corolla hatch uncovered

Early in May MMN has covered the story of the next generation Toyota Corolla going radical, which is according to the Car and Driver Brazil. However, when the new Corolla Axio came out in mid-May, it was as radical as sardine can, so what's the earlier piece of news all about? Well, it could be this, the Auris. In Europe, Toyota has dropped the legendary Corolla nomenclature from the Auris, but some market still called it as Corolla Auris. Still based on the Corolla chassis, Auris comes only in hatchback form.

As can be seen above, Toyota has really sharpened the frond end of the Auris model. The slit-like headlight and grille is akin to the domestic Toyota Wish. The emblem is fitted to a stubby centre section, which hold the chromed grille bar that even joint the headlight internal graphic. Fog lamp housing is as per what we have seen on Prius/Aqua and new Camry, so is the lower grille treatment. The side profile is conventional, which just solitary sill line adorning the lower belt line. Glass house kick up at the C-pillar, nice and resembling the old legend Caldina in GT4 guise.

It is the rear end that is really prominent. The intricately styled rear lights protrude out from the body surfacing, lending it an aggressive outlook. The effect of distributed mass is also evident from the massaged-look tail gate garnish and punctuated bumper section housing the rear reflector.

In Europe, the car will be powered by 1.3L and 1.6L gasoline from the current car, but with an added environmentally-friendly device to boost economy. The diesel however will benefit from BMW technology for 1.6L and 2.0L.JDM Auris will be powered by 1.5L and 1.8L engine, mirroring those on the recently launch Corolla Axio.

In the European market, Toyota Auris will compete against the Honda Civic Euro,Ford Focus and VW Golf. They are typically made up a huge chunk of a family car sold over there. It is quite amusing when this kind of little car can be described as family car. Maybe their family is small, maybe they don't travel across the country or maybe their wife don't pack up the whole wardrobe for balik kampung trip. But when I learnt that these small cars can accommodate up to 480L of boot volume, I now understand why. Pity we don't have them here.

There's a bit more photos from leaked Japanese brochure. It gives the outlook of the non-hybrid model which is slightly different from the Hybrid. But changes are minimal, limited only to bumper and grille trimmings. Photos after the jump.