Toyota New Zealand currently sells 3 vastly different versions of the Corolla

"Kar Wai Wong" (kingawesome467) 05/05/2018 at 08:33 • Filed to: Toyota Corolla, Corolla, Auris, Toyota Auris, New Zealand, Toyota

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Head on over to !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and you’ll discover that you can get your Corolla in 3 different body styles that are all practically different cars, which must be super confusing for the average New Zealander.

Customer: Hello, I’m looking at purchasing a new Corolla.

Salesman: Sure, here we have the Corolla sedan, with it’s sleek lines, and gorgeous bodywork, the new Corolla oozes style, sophistication, and excellent lease deals!

Customer: ...okay, This is great, but I want a bit more space. I would like the wagon version.

Salesman: Of course, this way. The new 2018 Corolla wagon means you don’t have to compromise dashing good looks for practicality! Some of the featu-

Customer: Wait a minute! This isn’t the same car as the one you showed me earlier!

Salesman: Of course it is. The Corolla is available in multiple body styles from the nippy hatch, to the stylish seda-

Customer: If they’re all the same car, than why do they look different?

Salesman: Errrrr..............Could I interest you in a RAV4 instead?

A pet peeve I have is when the same car gets different styling for different body styles. If they’re supposed to be the same car, why do these Focuses have different taillights? This Corolla thing goes a bit further than this though.

We start of with the sedan version, the E170. It’s the regular Corolla that’s sold all around the world, including the US. As you can see North Americans get different styling from other countries. Maybe Toyota thinks Americans HAVE to have SPORTY styling on their Corolla, otherwise they won’t buy it.

I can get you from A to B reliably and cheaply vs Look at me, I swear I’m fun and sporty! Buy me instead of a GTI!

Other places have it correct, if you’re buying a boring car, you’re buying a boring car, no shame about it. But in America, it has to have an oversized grille piece of plastic at the front for that aggressive sporty look.

Toyota has clearly failed at market research for the average Corolla customer.

Anyways, the Hatch version is also sold in the US, though with an iM suffix. (Thanks Scion!) Although it’s called a Corolla to capitalise on the popularity of the Corolla name (hmmm), it’s really a Toyota Auris, which is why it looks nothing like a regular Corolla. They do however share the same platform, but this one gets the code E180.

This time the difference between continents is more subtle. Also Europe gets a Hybrid. Yay?

Although there were proper Corolla hatchbacks before, the Auris was developed to be a separate car for different tastes for mainly Europe. This is the only Corolla version with a hatchback, so it makes sense they would import this version.

Finally there’s the Corolla E160, designed mainly for Japan. For JDM the sedan is called the Axio, and the Wagon is known as the Fielder (and some funny badges). So obviously since they need a Corolla wagon, this is the one they import. But hey there’s also a sedan. why didn’t they import that too instead of the regular Corolla sedan? I think the reason is that they import the E170 sedan from Thailand instead of the E160 sedan from Japan, because it’s close and cheap, and they import the E160 wagon and E180 hatchback from Japan, because that’s where they are made.

There’s also a Auris Touring Sports (wagon), but I think that’s only built in England, so it’s not worth importing that version instead of the much closer Japenese Corolla wagon.

Luckily for confused New Zealanders, the next gen Corolla seems to be a One Ford-esque global model, with the same Corolla in different body styles sold across the world, with small changes for different areas, like being named the Auris in Europe, or funny badges for Japan.

With differently styled rear ends. Nooo!

nFamousCJ - Keeper of Stringbean, Gengars and a Deezul > Kar Wai Wong 05/05/2018 at 08:38

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Kar Wai Wong > nFamousCJ - Keeper of Stringbean, Gengars and a Deezul 05/05/2018 at 08:41

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Yeah that always bugged me too.

smobgirl > Kar Wai Wong 05/05/2018 at 08:44

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I want that Corolla wagon in the color of the hatch up there. (And yes, the American sedan is FUGLY).

pip bip - choose Corrour > Kar Wai Wong 05/05/2018 at 08:44

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Toyota Japan wanted Australia to adopt the Auris name, but Toyota Australia said no, and stuck with Corolla.

Ash78, voting early and often > Kar Wai Wong 05/05/2018 at 08:45

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And this is why the Corolla is the “best selling car of all time worldwide”. Because model names are so often meaningless crap.

And yes, the overstyling of all cars in the US is a pretty recent thing and Toyota is the prime example. It bothers me because overstyling usually means design obsolescence, whereas a Toyota from the 90s or early 2000s looks boring, but usually ages well.

Kar Wai Wong > smobgirl 05/05/2018 at 08:46

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Which Corolla Wagon? European or Japanese? Why is this so confusing?

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Kar Wai Wong 05/05/2018 at 08:48

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I would consider buying a 2019 Corolla IF we could get the wagon in the US. But we know that isn’t going to happen.

Kar Wai Wong > pip bip - choose Corrour 05/05/2018 at 08:48

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Know any particular reason why?

smobgirl > Kar Wai Wong 05/05/2018 at 08:49

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Err, the one at the top? That’s the Japanese, right? Also - how is the wagon the cheapest option? That’s it, I’m moving to NZ.

WilliamsSW > Kar Wai Wong 05/05/2018 at 08:50

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So, kinda like the mid 1980s, when Toyota was selling plain Jane FWD sedans, the FX16 hot hatch, and the AE86 RWD here in the US, all as Corollas?

pip bip - choose Corrour > Kar Wai Wong 05/05/2018 at 08:52

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Corolla name had been in use for years, Toyota Australia didn’t want to dump a name with good reputation.

Auris name means nothing to us here.

Kar Wai Wong > smobgirl 05/05/2018 at 08:52

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Or, you know, Japan.

Svend > Kar Wai Wong 05/05/2018 at 09:30

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The Corolla saloon looks a lot like our Avensis.

Which is slightly odd as we get the Auris estate

and Avensis estate.

Is it just family familiarity?

Do you Kiwis get the Avensis?

I can understand the rear lights on the Focus though.

They wanted the lights up high on the hatchbacks for visibility and was a non standard look for it’s time. The saloon and estate however weren’t able to adopt the same look and with the differences in the rear between themselves needed different approaches.

carcrasher88 > smobgirl 05/05/2018 at 09:43

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That’s because it’s only available in one trim, GX, is rather bare bones, and marketed primarily at business and fleet owners, not private buyers like the sedan and hatch.

Kar Wai Wong > Svend 05/05/2018 at 11:58

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you kiwis

Hey, I’m from the UK! A quick search reveals that saloon and estate Avensises were sold but recently discontinued. Probally going to be the same for the rest of the world. As for the Focus thing, I understand that you obviously can’t put the hatchback lights on the saloon, so why didn’t they use the saloon lights on all version? OK, I know those hatchback taillights are really cool, and if they did keep them for the hatchback, what was really preventing them from using them on the estate? The Mk2 did this pretty well. Anyways I was using Ford as an example, as a lot of manufactures do this. Using the Auris as an example:

Why is the number plate location shifted from the bumper on the hatch to the middle of the door on the estate? I can see there might not be enough room for the plate on the estate’s bumper due to the larger door, so why didn’t they just use the estate’s design for the hatchback? Yes I know how all estates have the rear lengthened, but that’s no excuse to at least try to make them look identical.

Interestingly enough the Avensis does this pretty well. They look identical sans greenhouse, how they should for all cars with multiple body styles.

Kar Wai Wong > WilliamsSW 05/05/2018 at 12:02

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Ooh! History repeats itself! Although in this case it’s not continuing selling older models with the newer one.

WilliamsSW > Kar Wai Wong 05/05/2018 at 12:05

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And also not mixing RWD and FWD, which would have been nice!

Svart Smart, traded in his Smart > Kar Wai Wong 05/05/2018 at 16:36

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I actually like the E160 styling better.

I don’t see a problem with different rear-end styling for different body styles of the same car. I think it would look a bit forced if they all had similar (or identical) taillights, etc.

duurtlang > pip bip - choose Corrour 05/05/2018 at 16:47

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We’ve had the Corrolla for many decades in Europe as well. They still discontinued it. My guess is that it’s due to the image problem; Corrollas we’re always these boring old people carriers and they wanted something fresher. That the Auris (the car) was more of the same boring genericness didn’t help though.

duurtlang > Kar Wai Wong 05/05/2018 at 16:50

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Corrolla has been discontinued in Europe though. At least in my market it was, years ago. We only get the Auris wagon and hatch.

Kar Wai Wong > duurtlang 05/05/2018 at 17:04

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Kinda already said that.

Although there were proper Corolla hatchbacks before, the Auris was developed to be a separate car for different tastes for mainly Europe.

Actually looking back on it, I could’ve worded that better to say how it has replaced the Corolla. I live in the UK. E170 Corollas are sold in Germany and Ireland.