Meet the Toyota Corolla… Cross
A strange new animal has appeared overseas, bearing a name that’s very, very familiar to American drivers. Corolla Cross, by Toyota.
It’s a Corolla, only a crossover.
Let’s explore.
Revealed in Thailand Wednesday, the Corolla Cross borrows the TNGA platform found beneath the Corolla sedan and hatchback and adds a bulky new body, no doubt ensuring instant lust among vast swaths of the buying public.
Wheelbase grows a tiny amount, width increases by less than 2 inches, and overall length trails the longer Corolla sedan by just under 7 inches. Oh, and it’s taller. Overall, it slightly tops the subcompact C-HR in size. Power comes via a familiar 1.8-liter four-cylinder (140 horsepower, 129 lb-ft of torque) or a hybrid setup, with each powertrain incorporating front-wheel drive and a continuously variable automatic.
Bulging fenders aside, the Corolla Cross side-steps the wild angles and polarizing envelope of the C-HR for a more conventional appearance, with a somewhat homely front fascia aping both the full-size Sequoia and a really old Hyundai Santa Fe.
Via its Japanese webpage (helpfully translated by Google), Toyota claims the Corolla Cross combines an “appearance that makes you feel powerful” and “top-level luggage space,” adding, “we will gradually expand the number of countries in which it is introduced.”
Will America be one of those markets? Toyota has not yet confirmed it, though the automaker did trademarked the name in the U.S. back in August of 2018. It’s generally expected to appear on these shores next year.
[Images: Toyota]
More by Steph Willems
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With the 2019 model the RAV4 stopped being the SUV cousin of the Corolla and became the SUV cousin of the camry.
Didn't Toyota have this in the Matrix a few years ago? It was Corrola based and more or less a wagon, which is all that CUVs are. Call them whatever you want. But now they can be CROSSOVERS with added gray plastic and a few more bulges here and there. THE Matrix was a "hatchback", which places it in teh same calss as a Hyundai Accent, right? I liked the Matrix and lesser Pontiac version. Test drove a M Theory which was pretty cool. Glad it's back, no matter what it's called.