Are you ready for the Toyota Corolla Cross?

MANILA: It seems that everyone is already talking about the impending vehicle launch of Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP) — scheduled on August 20, if you didn’t know it yet — and the perennial triple-crown winner (as country leader in passenger-car sales, commercial-vehicle sales, and overall sales) looks like it’s bringing in, well, a winner.

It has become something of an open secret at this point: We’ll be getting the (drum roll, please) Toyota Corolla Cross compact crossover SUV. Wait, what? A Corolla SUV? Definitely. You can read about this new product here which we reported on ZIGWHEELS.PH following its Thailand launch in early July.

TMP first teased its arrival by saying “There’s a new hybrid in town,” along with a darkened gif of its front fascia. It didn’t take long for people to realize that it was the aforementioned Cross — something that we have also independently verified with reliable sources. The clincher also actually came from the company itself. On its Viber account, TMP hinted with the following text: “The Corolla we all know and love, now also in a new exhilarating form factor.”

So, what’s the Corolla Cross, anyway? If we take a gander at the Toyota SUV portfolio here, this should slot nicely between the entry-level Rush and the bigger RAV4. The platform it’s built on (the TGA-C) is the same one used by, among others, the Toyota C-HR and the Lexus UX.

The Corolla badge is a storied, treasured one that underscores Toyota’s success through generations, and you can say it wasn’t a whimsical slapping on of the name onto the Cross. “The Corolla has continued to evolve in line with the needs of the times and of the regions it is sold in,” said a Toyota release following the Thailand launch of the vehicle. “By adding a new model to the Corolla series to suit the growing demand of SUVs, the enhanced Corolla lineup enables customers to select the model that better suits their diverse lifestyles and life stages."

Interestingly, if you think about it, the Corolla badge is also becoming the poster child of the hybrid assault of TMP here. Remember that the Corolla Altis was also famously bestowed a hybrid variant – making it the most affordable representation of TMP’s electrification aspirations here (with the cheapest Altis hybrid priced at P1.58 million, compared to the most affordable Prius C at P1.97 million).

Anyway, back to the Cross, touted by the brand as “Corolla meets SUV.” The company says the platform enables the crossover to deliver “high-quality performance, a comfortable ride, and outstanding quietness. In addition to its exceptional comfort, the Corolla Cross provides a spacious cabin, easy entry into and exit from the car, class-leading luggage space (of up to 487 liters) suitable for all scenarios, and safety equipment inherited from the Corolla series.”

Toyota also boasts about the crossover’s elevated driving position, which enables a greater field of view while minimizing blind spots. A turning radius of 5.2 meters apparently leads its class.

We know this much about the hybrid version that Toyota appears to be headlining: It’s powered by an Atkinson-cycle version of a 1.8-liter power plant used on the gas-powered variant. Called the 2ZR-FXE, it generates 98ps at 5,200rpm and 142Nm at 3,600rpm. Helping it along with electric goodness are two motors that deliver 72ps and 163Nm, bumping up the system output to 122ps.

The ICE version gets a 1.8-liter 2ZR-FE dual VVT-I delivering 140ps (at 6,400rpm) and 172Nm (at 4,000rpm), mated to a continuously variable transmission.

To give you an idea of its physical dimensions, we compare it to a RAV4 and Rush for reference.

	RUSH	RAV4	COROLLA CROSS
Length (millimeters)	4,435	4,600	4,460
Width	1,695	1,855	1,825
Height	1,705	1,685	1,620
Wheelbase	2,685	2,690	2,640

 

So, what do you think? Doesn't it look like a baby RAV4 — much like how the Rush has been called a baby Fortuner?

We suspect that the pricing (at least for the non-hybrid) would undercut the cheapest RAV4 (currently at P1.725 million), and as we wait with bated breath for its official launch, we’re pretty sure that other brands with entries in this segment are doing so as well.

Photos from Toyota 

Also read: Toyota PH now delivers your new vehicle to you