Bold change in the world's favorite car – Toyota Corolla Sedan

A more powerful 2.0 liter engine and a wider track should allow the Corolla to replicate the sportiest model of its siblings and turn into an entertaining ride with an attractive interior.

Australia is still waiting in a year for the four-door version of the Corolla sedan in the showrooms, but the car was officially unveiled at the Guangzhou Auto Show in China on Friday.

The sedan will share the 125 kW / 200 Nm engine already seen in the hatch, which was launched locally in August of this year. This equates to a 20% increase in power, while offering better fuel economy than its predecessor.

The four-door will also adopt the stiffer TNGA chassis with a revised front suspension and a multi-link rear suspension instead of the existing torsion beam, but Toyota Australia does not plan to replicate the five-door range with a hybrid version.

The current sedan represents about 20% of Corolla's sales, and Toyota Australia Sales and Marketing Manager Sean Hanley said the new car could increase that number.

"With the new hatchback and the hatch, we see an opportunity to capture a larger share of the small passenger car market, and while this segment is gradually shrinking, it remains the largest consumer market in Australia ( mid-size SUVs come in second place, although premium sales make it the largest segment). "

The track of the sedan has been widened and the height is reduced by 20 mm to give the car a sportier appearance and a lower center of gravity. The wheelbase is unchanged at 2700mm, 60mm longer than the tailgate.

The sedan will be sold with a six-speed manual transmission with downhill speed adjustment and a CVT with 10-step "steps" and a sport mode. He should follow the hatch and move to 12-month / 15,000-kilometer maintenance intervals instead of six-month / 10,000-kilometer visits to the dealership.

News Corp. was treated to a brief overview of US sedans earlier this month and the initial impression is that of a fairly resolute design with solid fold lines on the hood and along the sides of the car.

The flared protections give the impression that the vehicle could do with larger wheels and the grille is imposing Lexus, although it emphasizes the lower 35 mm hood.

For us, the front styling is more aesthetic in the more sporty XSE versions, where horizontal daytime running lights on either side divide the honeycomb range. This is a similar case at the back of the car, where more honeycomb helps to break the rear bumper that would have been too thick.

Like the hatch, all variants of the sedan will inherit Toyota's latest active safety software, including autonomous emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, assistance in maintaining the track and the automatic driving light.

Signage recognition, blind spot monitoring and rear cross traffic alerts should be included on high specification versions.