Facelifted Toyota Corolla Spotted in China with New Prius-Like Front Face

The facelifted Toyota Corolla sedan has been spotted in China, featuring a new, Prius-like hammerhead front face.

It has been seven years since Toyota debuted the current, twelfth-generation (E210) Toyota Corolla, and it seems this beloved nameplate is due for a heavy facelift. Spotted on China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) website is the new facelifted version of the Toyota Corolla sedan that follows the same design footsteps as the new Prius and Camry.

The changes can be immediately seen, as the facelifted Corolla gets the same hammerhead front face as its newer siblings, featuring sharp C-shaped LED headlights that are connected by a thin light strip, plus a new front bumper with a smaller air intake and a more streamlined design.

That said, it seems like the overall profile of the Corolla sedan remains unchanged for this heavy facelift treatment, although it might get some new wheel options specifically for China. The rear end also sees no changes whatsoever, apart from the new black trim that connects the two LED taillights together.

As of now, the MIIT site only showcased the exterior part of the car, so we can’t really expect any big changes to take place inside the cabin of this updated Corolla.

On the powertrain front, CarScoops reported that the China-spec Corolla facelift will retain the same 1.8-litre 4-cyl 2ZR engine as before, and customers can get it in either full combustion form or the parallel hybrid (HEV) version. The latter setup uses an NMC battery pack that promises a fuel consumption rate as low as 4.13 litre per 100 km.

Chinese customers can also get the facelifted Corolla with the 2.0-litre 4-cyl engine option that produces 169 hp by itself, with MIIT suggesting that it will boast a top speed of only 180 km/h, at the expense of a lesser fuel consumption rate compared to the hybrid.

Understandably, details are quite scarce now on the facelifted Toyota Corolla, but we can expect this updated sedan to make its Chinese debut soon. That said, it remains unclear whether these updates will also apply to other markets, so better take this information with a grain of salt at this moment.

Malaysian-spec Toyota Corolla GR Sport (left) & Corolla 1.8G (right)

Closer to home, the Toyota Corolla sedan was last updated earlier this year with the inclusion of the sportier GR Sport variant priced at RM149,800. Meanwhile, the standard Corolla is now only available in a single 1.8G variant priced at RM144,800, with no hybrid option offered, at least for now.

Photo credit: China’s MIIT via CarScoops