Toyota Corolla

Auris replacement gets a new (old) name, fresh underpinnings and a 2.0-litre hybrid On sale February Price from £25,000 (est)

- Jim Holder

OUT WITH THE old and in with the older: 13 years after the Toyota Auris name replaced that of the Toyota Corolla, we’re back to where it all began. The reasoning is that this all-new, ground-up reworking of the family hatchback makes it worthy of a fresh start, and using a name that was launched back in 1966 (and which makes the Corolla the best-selling car ever) was suitably worthy.

Certainly, Toyota’s bigwigs are excited. It has been benchmarked against the very best cars in the class, such as the What Car? award-winning Skoda Octavia, as well as the Ford Focus and Volkswagen Golf.

Key to this is the development of new underpinnings called the Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA), around which the Corolla and many other Toyotas are built. Creating it has already reaped dividends on cars such as the C-HR family SUV and the latest Prius hybrid, both of which are much better to drive than many previous Toyotas.