Update - Additional photographs of the Corolla Hybrid from Auto Shanghai 2015 have been added to a new gallery below the story.
Powered by a 1.5L Atkinson cycle engine.
On the eve of the 2015 Shanghai Auto Show, Toyota has showcased the Toyota Corolla Hybrid in China. Hybrid technology itself is being presented on the Corolla for the first time outside the Japanese market.
Toyota will make the Corolla hybrid in China through the FAW-Toyota joint venture and list it on the market in the second half of the year.
Compared to the regular Corolla, the Hybrid gets a sharper face. It features new projector headlamps with a LED strike-through, a twin bar chrome grille, a wraparound airdam and foglamp enclosure, with the foglamp pushed into the bumper, chrome alloy wheels, chrome garnish on the door and an exclusive blue body paint.
Toyota has not pronounced all the details of the car, but Chinese media publish that the sedan will entail a hybrid system comprising a 1.5-liter Atkinson cycle engine paired to an electric motor, developing 99 hp, to deliver a fuel efficiency of 20.40 km/l (in the Chinese driving cycle).
Toyota would concurrently launch a second Corolla Hybrid (based on the Toyota Levin/American Corolla) which will be made by the GAC-Toyota joint venture.
[Source - 163.com, AutoHome.com.cn]
