What’s the best-selling car ever? If you define it by a single generation, it’s the Volkswagen Beetle, but if you define it by a nameplate, it’s the Toyota Corolla. We’re talking more than 50 million sold on every corner of this Earth, to people from all walks of life. Teachers, soldiers, criminals, the lot. It really is the default answer when much of the world wants to buy a car, and at this year’s Japan Mobility Show, Toyota gave us a glimpse at where the Corolla is going.
On first glance, there’s a whiff of post-recession to the appearance of this concept car, from the plunging beltline to the chamfered surfacing on the lower doors. Tropes we’ve seen before many moons ago, all but forgotten about, and are now almost reminiscing over. As a result, the Corolla concept isn’t exactly elegant from all angles, but the Corolla Furia Concept of 2013 taught us that proportions and surfacing can change for the better from concept to production.
Truthfully, I’m quite hoping it’s a five-door liftback for a couple of reasons. I mean, the silhouette certainly suggests it, and a liftback would be a practicality boost over a standard sedan, but I can’t imagine trying to stuff anything large in the back if we’re looking at a mail-slot trunk lid. At the same time, I do like the enormous Lucid Air-like windshield. More glass means more susceptibility to rock chips, sure, but also a greater connectedness to the world around you.
Speaking of changes, don’t expect the future Corolla’s interior to look like this. Console like a podium, huge pods coming off the gauge cluster, touchscreen way over on the passenger side? Come on. Then again, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a flat floor in the next Corolla, and while everything in here is exaggerated, you can get a sense of what might be going on if you squint a bit. The one thing I hope survives the trip from concept to production? A tiny Corolla-shaped shifter. How whimsical.
As for motive power, there is something on the Corolla concept that makes me curious: the absolute shedload of either fuel filler doors, charging port doors, or both. We’re talking one in each front fender plus one in the left rear quarter-panel. According to Toyota, “Technological innovation enables the flexibility for Corolla Concept to be a battery-electric vehicle (BEV), plug-in hybrid (PHEV), hybrid (HEV), or internal combustion engine vehicle,” and although this concept probably doesn’t try to roll all of these things into one demonstrator, the next Corolla should be as green as you want it to be.
With the production-spec Corolla as we know it knocking on the door of eight years old, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a new one relatively soon-ish. While the Corolla Concept might look far-out, strip away some of the concept car fripperies, and we might actually be looking at Toyota’s next-generation compact. Consider this a new headlight pattern to recognize when your Uber rolls up in the dark.
Top graphic image: Toyota
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