Toyota Corolla packed with a lil’ action?
November 5, 2008 by Alborz Fallah
Although for most of us the Toyota Corolla has always been viewed as a car without soul, a car which defines the idea of “A->B”, Toyota has begun a new battle to change our perception.
To do this, the Big T has started online, indirectly informing blogs (such as CarAdvice) to promote a series of new car ads that show the Corolla in a different light.
The ad in question is below:
Ninja Kittens, as it’s called, is one of the more interesting car ads we’ve seen in some time. Whilst there has never been a doubt about the marketing genius behind Toyota, the problems have never been in the marketing department!
For us, Toyota can start by releasing a TRD variant, giving the Corolla some more sportiness in the form of a more powerful engine and more agressive styling, then of course there is the need for standard ESC etc. The list goes on.
What we like to know is whether or not this type of marketing will actually change your perception? And if not your perception, do you think it can change the way in which others view the Corolla?
Print it: 
Just looking into the ACCC guidlines, surely this is pushing the boundaries of “False” advertising…….. No (current) Corolla has any sort of Sporting pretensions, unless you class a remote control overhead gear shift as “SPORTING”….
C’mon guys…
So you’ve got an awesomely shot ad with a lame strategy. You guys are meant to be funny and egalitarian, not sexy and slick. Oh and by the way, every punter that sees this on the tube knows that Corolla is neither of these things.
What is the substantiation for a ‘lil action’? Last time I checked most of the Corolla variants struggle to hit 100k/m in under 10 seconds – that combined with the fact that it drives like a fridge and it will never win any beauty contests means that it’s pretty lost in the small car segment. It does everything ok, but not action. Ok maybe a ‘lil’ bit.
Stick to what Corolla is – dependable and boring. There’s a reason why it kicks ar$e in sales, because it’s always there. And it doesn’t break down. Nanna has no qualms walking into her local dealership dropping a bit of retirement coin on another piece of whitegood that will get her to the bowlo, and then palm off to her grandaughter.
Quote [Al Juraj] Aurion V6, 6-speed and independent rear suspension – enough to kill those bogan cars. And yes, ESP and CVT/5-speed auto for the rest of the range.
If it’s got enough to kill the bogan cars; despite the fact that you can’t really compare them as its RWD vs FWD….
then why is the Aurion – in both standard and TuRD form unable to outsell the Falcon and Commodore [incl FPV n HSV]
I mean given that the Aurion [supposedly] has better engineering, more power and is more refined then surely it would be a “no brainer” to go for the Aurion… Bearing in mind that according to the stereotype – Bogans aren’t that bright.
Toyota had the best car marketing tool in the world and threw it away, WRC, they should have sold a Corolla GT4 when they switched from the Celica, look at what WRC has done for Subaru, they would be out of buisnes now without impreza WRC. why they choose to pump millions into an formula 1 is beyond me, it is irrelevant to the cars they make. Given the Corolla’s international success the best marketing would be a return to WRC, and sell a 4wd turbo version. Aurion Trd 4wd for $55,000 would be a great car (I assume they could use Kluger 4wd parts).
The S2000 Corolla from Bates are using a Celica engine and the Celica 4WD drivetrain.
If you tell me, Toyota can just introduce an AWD drivetrain from Celica into the corolla, tune the engine better to give at least 120kW, add $5000 premium, and they can sell much better.
I wonder if Toyota even reads all these comments? Or they just do, but choose they best be ignored.
Toyota cannot bring out anything sporty in the Corolla range on it’s own.It would need the help of Yamaha to tune the engine.The TRD Aurion was a full Toyota project and look what happened to that!
Tom – Toyota probably do read the comments but choose to ignore them..
Funny thing is people say that Toyota have read the local market better than Ford and Holden – yet the fact that they have reduced the price of the TRD Aurion 2-3 times and the slow sales of the TRD Hilux shows that they are both cars which no-one is really wants….
I mean how many FWD Performance/Sports cars can you think of in the world?
and given the number of comments on this topic that are saying “TRD Rolla – why Bother” indicates that its another Toyota which no-one is getting excited about.
Therefore; I suspect Toyota will go ahead with the TRD Corolla anyway and spend $100,000s trying to convince car enthusiasts that it’s better than it actally is; that it’s something it’s not
The Corolla Levin is a pretty sporty looking car….
Unfortunately…It’s the top of the range model and as such, should have an engine that distinguishes it from the lower models.
A Levin ZR with anything from a 2.2 to a 2.4 with 115-125kw would a lot more punch to what is otherwise a pretty good car!
At $29k it would certainly be a worthwhile option to consider.
Fast Honda – IF Toyota want a Performance or Sports model Corolla.. they would do better to use the engine out of the Lotus Elise.. as it’s a Toyota [Corolla] engine to begin with – to which Lotus bolt on an Turbo-charger and virtually double the power.
Which is sad really when you consider the comparative size of the two companies [Toyota and Lotus] as well as their budgets; and access to resources etc..
It’s not the same engine Wheelnut :-\
The toyota 2zz engine didn’t meet euro IV standards and thus toyota discontinued it. There will not be any more toyota cars with that 141kw engine. This is the engine that they supercharge to get whatever kw is in the exige s.
The corolla _had_ a 1zz engine which is used in the elise in some countries. But it’s definitely not the engine that is blown to produce double the power.
You know what? I have just realized something. Even if Toyota did do a hot hatch, we car interested people would probably still rip on it. And you know they’d stuff it up anyway. Neither of the TRD models so far have been particularly memorable and I don’t think the Rav4 TRD is going to be all that good, considering the 200kw Rav4 is truly crap. I think that Australia should get the V6 Corolla. Seems like the sort of thing that would sell here. And you should definitley get a diesel.
the ads sucks…. no imagination.
yah…they should put their $$ in R&D.
give us some proper suspension
Oh, forgot to mention, just referring to your article CA, stability will finally be available from December production onwards. There’s also (for some strange reason) changes to the gear ratios for the 6 speed manual?!? Couple of other little changes as well. No CVT or 5 or 6 speed auto… or Valvematic, or V6, or 2.4… yawwwwwwnnnnn
The add is attrocious, but if you are a Toyota fan you might like it. Actually, ‘Toyota fan’ is somewhat of an oxymoron, as a ‘fan’ would imply passion of some description. And Toyota is Japanese for boring, soulless, bland forms of transport for the masses.
It might reduce the age of corolla drivers down to about 60ish.
I firmly beleive there are two groups that work in Toyota:
the ones that want performance cars and the ones who refuse to allow any thought of Toyota being connected with genuine perfomance.
Guess who wins most of the time?
Oh and another thing.
If I was shopping for a performance car , Toyota doesn’t even cross my mind.
They’ve had plenty of opportunities to change their image over the years. They just keep pumping out appliances!
Im getting fired up now so Im gonna stop before I lose it!
is it just me or does the corolla sedan in the above picture look about as big as a camry???go the ninja pussies!!!
J&H – Not only does it look as big as a Camry.. but it also looks like a mixture of the 3 Model Camrys [2002-08]
I am 31 years old and have had my corolla for 10 years. I bought it new. It has been a great car. This model was the last small car built in Australia. I am ready to buy another car and I would happily buy a new Corolla if they would only make one that is better than the one I already have. Perhaps I should have bought 2 in 1998 and kept one all locked up!
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
71 comments, yet “Toyota has no soul”?!
What a bunch of tools!!
Sam, r u sure you’ve got the right website?
Roflmatic – the engine in the Lotus may be a different engine than what’s in the Corolla – even so I’d say that Toyota would still have a contract to supply Lotus with a similar engine[s] and I’d say that Lotus would still be [willing and] able to get more power out of it than Toyota.
Remember Lotus have far more F1 experience than Toyota do and F1 is supposedly the pinnacle of automotive engineering
Yeah I think lotus do squeeze a little more power out of the engine (180hp to 190?), but it’s unfair (to toyota) to suggest that Lotus double the power.
As far as I know, this is how it works:
1zzge – 1.8L (140hp) engine used in the (previous) corolla and mr2, and current elise in some markets
2zzge – 1.8L (180-190hp) engine used in the celica, corolla sportivo and elise / exige in some markets.
In addition, in some areas you can get a exige s, which I believe has a supercharger on the 2zzge engine, increasing power to 218hp.
Lotus didn’t need to do much to the engine, it was pretty maxed out. The compression ratio was 11.5 or something. Where they come into their own is with suspension and chassis etc.
The 2zzge was a great engine for its time, (until euro IV came out anyway!). It was toyotas first mass produced all aluminium engines which replaced the highly regarded AGe engines. They provided one of the best power to engine weight ratios which is why lotus sought them out to use in their cars.
See the graph for yourself!
sandsmuseum.com/cars/elise/thecar/engine/ratio.jpg
QUOTE Wheelnut: “If it’s got enough to kill the bogan cars; despite the fact that you can’t really compare them as its RWD vs FWD….
then why is the Aurion – in both standard and TuRD form unable to outsell the Falcon and Commodore [incl FPV n HSV]
I mean given that the Aurion [supposedly] has better engineering, more power and is more refined then surely it would be a “no brainer” to go for the Aurion… Bearing in mind that according to the stereotype – Bogans aren’t that bright.”
Well Commodores have long been Aussie pretenders fooling the entire nation. They started off as ‘Frankenstein’ getting a donor body from Opel then engines from Buick, even Nissan and what-have-you. Then they’re rebadged with Peugeot knock-off lion emblems to make it seem they’re originally from downunder. The VE’s body may have been designed here, but everything else still comes from overseas.
The bottom line is there’s no logical reason to get this kind of car. It’s unnecessarily big, with yesteryear 4-speed autos matched to a V6 less powerful and economical than what the others have to offer. Factor in the electrical glitches, paint mismatch and what-not, and we’ve got the bestseller. Go figure!
The Falcon is actually the most ‘Australian’ car you can get. The epic 4-litre straight-six is among the class leaders, with a better thought out dash than its Holden counterpart. It is better in just about every way, but why isn’t it selling so well?
You said it yourself, bogans aren’t very smart, but I do have to agree that Toyota are missing the point in their TRD lineup. The supercharged Aurion is at the end of the day just a more powerful version of mum’s Camry, and the HiLux doesn’t have sport in its vocabulary no matter what. But they are indeed better made than any RWD Oz sedan or ute. They should get it right in the Corolla, shoehorning the non-supercharged V6 and sorting out the suspension to come up with a better performance car.
well all you lot should realise that you are not buying anything other than a badge made by issusu wow WOW stand by honesty toyota not yet issusu , Corrola loyalty to the customer that’s why it’s the bigest seller in australia we like honesty,HONESTY… car manufactues wake up or just realise we are not dumb, keep rockin toyota and stay away from issusu the rip off company , they own holden ford mazda nissan etc most of the car industry…holden sold to issusu 1974 ford sold to issusu 1980 so why give anything to them for a product that kill’s example mitubissi’s burns…plastic plastic plastic where is the sub frames wake up australia and give us a real safety test on all cars and not let 1 company rule the market…..and lie to us …..>>>>
remove the plastic feul tanks in all cars and give back the steel tank it is smarter than the tank that splits in less than 2-3 years or if you have an accident , walla bang you are gone … burns burns burns…..you on fire…. to late you bought it…4×4 mit sub isi…get a real car toyota now jump…mr issusu you are wrong…..
wheel nut,,, well you are a nut i understand why you use nut now i no…. ford and holdens are at the end of sales bannner… why then i’ll answer you cause they are owned by the same company and just like coca cola and pepsi they want us to fight over witch is better, and well ford and holden or issusu and issusu do you see make the same shitty cars … no brainer … the little honest company gets the business smart thinking , we the customer are not dumb we see value for our dollars …. go toyota and as a fact there is and never was a car company soley owned in this country…..holden and ford american till sold out to issusu …japan owns the hole car industry so only the little guy is gunna give you that honesty…so support it don’t knock it and wake up ….
corolla is Australia’s most reliable smart driving car however the new models are just too big to be named a corolla….they are alot larger than the old school camrys….what are you doing toyota ? wake up!!!!
Some car ads are reaily dumb,Is Toyota saying Corollas are for Theiving Pussy’s and kitterns???Bronze medal for them.4th Ford with there two fingers campain,If you invert the fingers you get a whole different meaning,Silver medal to Holden for there sportwagon line,”It’s a wagon with the word sport infront of it”.But gold goes to Nissan for there X-trial ad,The car thats not for Pretenders,But has Boris the pretend crocodile in it,classic.