Toyota has been teasing the GR Corolla for the United States for a while now, but it has yet to reveal when the hot hatch will be launched in the country. However, a new report by The Drive, citing a video uploaded to YouTube by Driven District, suggests the GR Corolla will go on sale in October this year.
The video has since been made private, but screen captures from it showed internal documents from a Toyota dealership containing upcoming product releases and events for this year. We see cars like GR86 on the timeline, along with the Tundra, bZ4X and Sequoia, while “Corolla GR On Sale” is listed for the month of October.
While the document does look convincing, it should be taken with a pinch of salt pending official word from Toyota. The carmaker has already confirmed that the GR Yaris won’t be coming stateside, with the GR Corolla taking its place instead.
Larger body aside, the GR Corolla is expected to be mechanically similar to its smaller sibling, at least based on Toyota’s past cryptic teasers. The clues indicate the same G16E-GTS 1.6 litre turbocharged three-cylinder engine used by GR Yaris, with an output of 268 hp (272 PS) to match the Japan-spec version.
It has also been rumoured that to make up for the Corolla’s size, the engine could be uprated to make as much as 296 hp (300 PS). Regardless, the mill will be paired with a six-speed manual transmission as well as a GR-Four permanent all-wheel drive system.
While the GR Corolla is certainly a car that enthusiasts in the US are looking forward, Toyota is expecting sales of the model to hit just 90 units for the year. This is likely due to the limited number of units that Toyota might offer and that the launch is happening late into the year.
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