The all-new Toyota Corolla Cross is a compact crossover for the practical-minded



The heavily-rumoured Toyota Corolla Cross has finally made its global debut today in Thailand. Built on the brand’s TNGA-C platform, the all-new compact crossover will coexist alongside the Toyota C-HR, serving the crowd looking for a more “conventional” design to take on other popular crossovers in the region such as the Honda HR-V, Subaru XV, and the Mazda CX-30.

Despite sharing the Corolla name, the exterior of the all-new Corolla Cross resembles more of a downsized RAV4. Many of the familiar design cues, such as the large angular grille, squarish wheel arches, and taillights signature have been borrowed over from its larger sibling.

The Toyota Corolla Cross does take the edge off a little on the whole ‘blockiness’ theme of the RAV4, with softer edges and rounded corners on most design elements. The character lines above the front and rear wheel arches even features a boomerang-like curved design.

On the inside, the general architecture of the cabin seems to have been lifted directly from the Toyota Corolla, as the entire dashboard, centre console, instrument cluster, and the steering wheel looks pretty much identical to its sedan counterpart.

Feature wise, the Corolla Cross gets a multi-info digital instrument cluster, dual-zone air conditioning with rear vents, nine-inch infotainment display with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, reclining rear seats (up to six degrees) and a powered tailgate with hands-free access.

As mentioned above, the Toyota Corolla Cross is built on the TNGA-C platform, which can also be found underneath the C-HR and Corolla. Unlike the two models though, the all-new SUV trades in the double wishbone rear suspension for a simpler and space efficient torsion beam set-up.

As a result, the all-new Corolla Cross boasts a class-leading luggage space of 487 litres with a tyre repair kit, and 440 litres with a temporary spare tyre. For comparison’s sake, the boot space of the similarly-sized Honda HR-V and Subaru XV are rated at 437 litre and 385 litre respectively.

The Toyota Corolla will be offered with two powertrain options: The base variant will be powered by the same 2ZR-FBE 1.8-litre naturally-aspirated four cylinder engine shared with the Corolla and C-HR, producing 140 hp and 177 Nm of torque. The engine is paired to Super CVT-i transmission.

The rest of the model range will be powered by a hybridised 2ZR-FXE mill as seen on the Prius and C-HR Hybrid, which pairs the 1.8-litre engine (98 hp, 142 Nm) to an electric motor (72 hp, 163 Nm) for a combined system output of 122 hp. The hybrid mill is paired to an e-CVT transmission.

Safety wise, the all-new Corolla Cross gets seven airbags as standard. Higher-end variants inherit the Toyota Safety Sense advanced driver assistance suite from the Corolla sedan, which includes features such as Pre-Collision System, Lane Departure Alert with steering assist, Lane Tracing Assist, Dynamic Radar Cruise Control, and Automatic High Beam.

Over in Thailand, the all-new Toyota Cross will be priced from THB989,000 to THB1,199,000, which is slightly higher across the range compared to the more exotically-styled C-HR (THB979,000 – THB1,159,000).

Given that the global launch of the Toyota Corolla Cross was held at the neighbouring Thailand, it is pretty safe to say that the all-new crossover will be making its way over to our shores – only question left to wonder is if UMW Toyota will choose to assemble it locally at its Bukit Raja plant, as the government’s CKD hybrid incentive could allow the all-new Corolla Cross to be priced even lower than the fully-imported C-HR.


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