Toyota has been known for making traditional looking designs over the years barring some radical ones like the GT86 . Not anymore. The funky Furia Concept displayed at the 2013 Detroit Auto Show gives a preview of the future Corolla. Yes, you read it right. The design cues from this concept will percolate into the next-gen Corolla.
Toyota revealed it’s the Corolla Furia Concept at the NAIAS 2013 Detroit Auto Show giving us a glimpse of Toyota’s future design philosophy. Now our Malaysian friend Theophilus Chin has come up with a rendering of what the new face might will look like.
Toyota says the Corolla Furia concept “hints at the styling cues consumers can expect to see” in North America. “The Corolla Furia Concept is an early indicator of where our compact car design may lead in the future”, Toyota Group Vice President and General Manager Bill Fay said. “It blends a heightened emphasis on dramatic design and modern elements of high technology to generate curb appeal that will surprise a lot of people.”
Drawing on Toyota’s sharp new family styling, the Corolla Furia shows off narrow blacked-out headlights that merge into a slender grille, flanked by tall side intakes and a wide front air dam. The profile of the Furia has been kept comparatively simple, although Toyota has worked in a two-tone element with a grey lower section running from the front doors and into the rear bumper.
As a design study, the car doesn’t offer any hints at any mechanical changes Toyota might be considering, but the swept windshield and sloped roofline suggest the brand will follow the industry trend toward raked rear ends and more aerodynamic body shapes. It seems likely that elements like the LED lighting seen here will make it into the next Corolla’s design, but others like the carbon fiber trim around the wheel wells almost certainly won’t.
Toyota didn’t offer many concrete facts about the car, but it did give overall dimensions, divulging that the next Corolla will grow. The wheelbase will be almost four inches longer while overall length will increase by a little less than two. The biggest detail – if it sticks – is that the Corolla Furia is more than 10 inches wider.
Toyota Group Senior Vice President Bob Carter deflected any comments that the Corolla was inspired on to be sportier and more design conscious by the competition, like the Hyundai Elantra, Dodge Dart and Ford Focus. He said that consumers are leaning towards more stylish and sportier looks. Carter also argued that the competition’s compacts have polarizing designs, and the final design of the next-gen Corolla will avoid that issue. How it will do that, without losing its edge, remains to be seen.
The new Corolla will head to India after its U.S. debut sometime in 2014 to regain the market share lost to the Chevrolet Cruze.
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