Toyota is celebrating 50 years of the Corolla – the world’s most popular car.
Since the original model was introduced in Japan in 1966, more than 44 million have been sold worldwide.
And although the Corolla has not been part of the UK model range since 2008, it remains an important part of Toyota’s global line-up, manufactured in 16 plants worldwide.
It has also played a major part in the Japanese giant’s history because one in every five new vehicles sold in Toyota’s 79-year history has been a Corolla.
The Corolla was designed to be a “people’s car,” introduced in saloon and estate body styles and displaying higher build quality and – for its time – lavish equipment features.
The specification included a floor-mounted gear lever, individual front bucket seats with generous padding and a spacious rear bench that was likened to a family sofa. Although classed as a compact car, its high roof height made the interior feel exceptionally roomy.
The Corolla was Toyota’s second model to be imported into the UK, following the Corona into showrooms within its launch year, 1966. Through successive generations and a wide range of body styles, it continued to be available up to 2008 and more than 560,000 cars were sold.
Between 1988 and 2006 Toyota built the five-door hatchback models at its Burnaston factory in Derbyshire for the UK and Europe, then production ended to make way for Auris, Toyota’s new (and current) compact hatchback for the European market.
Although renowned as a family car, the Corolla was also a success in UK motorsport. The Corolla GT rear-wheel drive coupe was driven by Chris Hodgetts to victory in the 1986 British Touring Car Championship – a feat he repeated the following year.
The post 50 years of Toyota’s “people’s car” appeared first on Automotive Blog.
from Automotive Blog http://www.automotiveblog.co.uk/2016/09/50-years-of-toyotas-peoples-car/
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