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Following its Australian launch in August 2018, the Toyota Corolla is now six years old and therefore approaching its replacement.
The Camry was heavily updated in September after its predecessor served seven years in-market. In the same vein as Toyota’s family sedan, expect familiar underpinnings with a visual makeover and engineering updates for the new 2026 Toyota Corolla.
What will differ is that, if reports from Japanese outlet BestCar are to be believed, the Corolla is going to score Toyota’s new suite of downsized combustion and hybrid engines. Potentially even a 1000km-plus driving range plug-in hybrid version, too.
We called in digital artist Thanos Pappas to bring the 13th-generation Toyota Corolla to life in hatch guise.
While the hatchback’s silhouette remains almost unchanged, the deep facelift gives the Corolla a new lease on life with a Camry-inspired aggressive front bumper design and C-HR-like LED daytime running light signature.
On the Corolla’s flanks are new flush door handles, as seen on the C-HR. In this high-spec render, this new ZR trim gets big alloy wheels with an aero design to further improve on efficiency.
Inside, expect a larger touchscreen, revisions to the cabin layout, higher quality digital instrument display and improved connected services. The new Corolla will reportedly be hatchback only — no wagon or sedan versions globally.
While there's speculation that the new-gen Corolla might use BYD’s plug-in hybrid technology, it’s looking more likely that the combustion engine will be a Toyota unit from the new fleet of engines unveiled at the ‘multi-pathway’ workshop earlier this year.
It is still possible that Toyota will use BYD’s Blade batteries and electric motors in plug-in hybrid systems, but Toyota has plenty of experience producing in-house parts for hybrids.
A 15-20kWh battery onboard would be enough to see Toyota’s Corolla easily capable of travelling more than 1000km from a charge and fill-up.
Toyota will persevere with its proven hybrid system, likely using a downsized 1.5-litre petrol engine running on 95 RON premium unleaded paired with more efficient electric motors, inverter and battery to lower fuel consumption.
The Toyota Corolla hybrid hatch currently achieves fuel efficiency ratings as low as 3.9L/100km in SX guise. Dipping into the low 3.0L/100km range will be important as Australia’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standards (NVES) kick in.
Power is likely to climb beyond the current 1.8-litre hybrid’s combined 103kW maximum outputs, too.
It is unclear whether the rally-bred GR version will continue in the new-generation Corolla. The Japanese carmaker is understood to be working on a host of new performance cars, though, so don’t rule it out.
The new Corolla is expected to launch in 2026, around a similar time to Toyota’s new RAV4, with the small car going into battle the ageing Mazda3, along with the recently-updated Volkswagen Golf Mk8.5 and Kia's new Cerato-replacing K4.
Toyota’s hybrid-only Corolla range currently starts at $32,110, before on-road costs, for the Ascent Sport hybrid. A top-spec ZR hybrid is $39,1000.
We’d wager a price increase for the new model — think $35-$42K — with the plug-in hybrid’s extra complexity likely to cost buyers about $3000-5000 more.
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