While it wasn’t a particularly well-kept secret, Toyota has now seemingly confirmed it will indeed build a GR Corolla hot hatch.

On both Twitter (embedded below) and its website, the Japanese firm’s North American division said “while GR Yaris isn't coming to the US, perhaps it's time the US got a Toyota hot hatch to call its own”.

Sure, Toyota didn’t explicitly name the GR Corolla as that hot hatch but considering the only other hatchback besides the Yaris (and, technically, the Prius) the company offers in North America wears the Corolla badge, it’s almost certainly talking about the long-rumoured VW Golf GTI rival.

Of course, rumours of a GR Corolla hot hatch have been circulating for some time. In March 2020, Toyota filed an application to trademark the “GR Corolla” badge in Australia.

A month earlier, a report out of the United Kingdom claimed the new GR Corolla would use the same turbocharged 1,6-litre three-cylinder petrol engine as the smaller GR Yaris but added it would hit the market only in 2023.

At the end of April 2020, Toyota South Africa Motors said it would “very much like” to add a high-performance GR-badged Corolla to its line-up but added such a model had yet to be confirmed. The company also told CARmag.co.za the new GR Yaris hot hatch was “likely” to launch locally only in 2021 after we spotted it on Toyota Gazoo Racing SA’s website.

 

Original article from Car