Featured 2023 Toyota Corolla Family Announced - Hybrid Price Dropped

Always one of my favorite model cars ever since owning a 1992 model.

 

saw a hatchback the other day, so much more attractive than prius, i wish they'd make a phev

 

It's about profits. In Europe, and other markets where fuel efficiency is more important to buyers, Toyota rolled out the higher speed automatics, CVTs, and advanced engines years before bringing them to North America. Low US fuel prices meant they could keep selling the older equipment, with the Prius helping counter their FSP's.

 

I wonder if Toyota is pricing the base hybrid Corolla lower to make it easier to slot the new Prius into their lineup. They also have low priced competitors to worry about in the hybrid space ( i.e. - Ford Maverick ).

At any rate, the new Corolla looks very nice for the money...and is certainly on my shortlist. However, I'm still really looking forward to what the new Prius will bring to the table...and how Toyota will be pricing it.

 

Toyota will likely ship more of the higher trims and AWD models.

 

No hybrid hatchback?

 

I suspect that's the problem: it would be too popular, and they aren't ready for that kind of volume yet.

When our c eventually goes it will be replaced by another small hatchback.

Sure would be nice if that could be a Toyota pluggy hybrid, but we will take what we can get when that day comes.

 

I owned a light-blue metallic 1985 Corolla LE sedan with the 4-speed A240L transmission and 4A-LC engine from November 1995 to August 2019 (RIP). I owned a Barcelona-red metallic 2009 Corolla XLE sedan from February 2008 to sometime in 2009. I should have got a Barcelona-red metallic Gen 2 Prius instead of the latter though.

 

Not for the US. Canada sometimes gets models we don't in the south. If you don't get the hatch as a hybrid already, it likely isn't happening.

There is the lost volume of Prius sales a Corolla hatchback hybrid could recover. Then it might start taking more Prius sales. Maybe even the sales of that new Ravrolla.

 

That's very sad!
I believe when buying a car many may pay for more power, but many others pay for less consumption.

 

That's why I'm hoping the new Prius will cover those of us that want more efficiency for less 'power'. However, I'm not getting my hopes up...Toyota is going the wrong way on the efficiency front lately.

 

It's a question of market. Getting US customers to pay more for efficiency was always a tough sell. Maybe the EU Corolla will be tailored more for efficiency. The hybrid is still a notable improvement over the 2.0L ICE model, which sees gains over the outgoing 1.8L one.

Even using the same drive train as the Corolla hybrid, the Prius hybrid will be better rated. More so if they don't go with 'full' AWD for it.

With rumors of the next Prius PHEV getting a power boost, I think Toyota is worried about losing sales to plug ins. Most of those, including the Rav4 PHEV, get both performance and efficiency for the price.

 

I'd be over the moon if they'd come up with dash controls you could use, without driving off the road or into oncoming traffic.

 

Here in Europe (both hybrids):

• Corolla 1.8L goes from 122 HP to 140 HP (+18), 0-100 km/h goes from 10.9s to 9.2s (-1.7s), and CO2 remains at 102 g/km.
• Corolla 2L goes from 184 HP to 196 HP (+12), 0-100 km/h goes from 7.9s to 7.5s (-0.4s), and CO2 is reduced from 110 g/km to 107 g/km (-3 g/km).

Given that the CO2 in the WLTP cycle stays the same or less I'm a bit surprised about the estimated EPA drop in MPG.

 

It didn't drop by much.

The 2022 1.8L Corolla hybrid was EPA rated 53/52/52 city/highway/combined mpg. The 2023 FWD is 53/46/50. The US never got the 2.0L hybrid.
While the WLTP's Extra High cycle has an average speed about 10mph higher than the EPA's High Speed, the max acceleration rate of the EPA is over double in any of the WLTP portions. The power increase for the new model likely hurt it more in the EPA than the WLTP.

https://dieselnet.com/standards/cycles/wltp.php
https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/fe_test_schedules.shtml