Toyota Offers Another Peek at the GR Corolla Hot Hatch

Toyota is good at providing subtle teasers of the upcoming GR Corolla performance hatchback. After first confirming a hopped-up hatchback for the US in mid-2020, Toyota sneakily embedded a camouflaged car in a random Instagram post, and then hid the car in the shadows of a different picture. Now, its latest barely there teaser comes from a video about another model entirely.

Toyota once again snuck the GR Corolla into something else. This time, it's part of the automaker's "The Focus Group" advertisement, which is all about getting enthusiasts excited for the latest GR86 sports coupe. The premise isn't exactly fresh -- it's all about what enthusiasts want versus what stuffy executives in suits think they want -- but what is fresh is the new Toyota hot hatch chillin' in the background.

At one point, we get a quick view of the front end, which remains wrapped in the same camouflage as the car we've seen in previous teasers. We also get another shot of the car right at the end, when the taillights light up and an exhaust burble is heard as the engine starts up.

While that doesn't tell us much, it's actually the closest Toyota has come to announcing an official teaser for the vehicle. The ad mentions that one car is "missing," and the immediate next shot shows this hatchback. The prior two teasers were embedded in social media posts that didn't mention a hot hatch whatsoever, so, let's call this progress.

Even though Toyota has all but said that its next GR performance car will be a hopped-up Corolla, there's still so much we don't know. The powertrain is perhaps the biggest question. Some reports claim it will use the GR Yaris' 1.6-liter turbocharged inline-3, which could put out about 260 horsepower. There's also a chance it'll come with all-wheel drive, which would give it an extra feature that competitors like the VW GTI and Honda Civic Si lack. But we'll just have to sit pretty and wait for Toyota to sneak out another teaser to learn more.