The Auris nameplate might not be familiar to Americans, but this Europe-market compact hatchback is nearly identical to our U.S.-market Corolla iM hatch (née Scion iM). Now there’s a new Auris, which gives us a good idea of what a new hatchback version of the Corolla will look like when it arrives here within the next year or so.
The new Auris transitions to the same TNGA platform underpinning many other Toyotas, and it gets a longer wheelbase although overall proportions haven’t changed much. The detailing does look considerably more upscale thanks to attractive LED-accented headlights and taillights.
The Auris’s powertrains have less bearing on what we might see in a U.S.-spec Corolla hatch. Nonetheless, Toyota is strongly emphasizing its hybrid technology, offering two different gasoline-electric powertrains and only one conventional gasoline engine; the diesel engine previously offered has been dropped entirely. One of the hybrid setups uses a 1.8-liter four-cylinder and makes a combined 120 horsepower, and the other features a 2.0-liter four-cylinder and puts out a total of 178 horsepower (the latter is presumably the same new setup as the new Lexus UX crossover). The gas engine is the turbocharged 1.2-liter four-cylinder offered in the C-HR crossover in Europe.
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