The Drive's source inside Toyota's dealer network has been spilling secrets again. Last time, the source told the outlet that a Toyota Supra with a manual transmission is "confirmed" and could be here as soon as this year. This time the subject sticks to the sporty side and with confirmation of rumors, these having to do with the GR Corolla. It's not so much that there's new information here, but that a claimed insider is corroborating what we've heard. The dealer source says the automaker put a camouflaged prototype of the hot hatch on display at the same Las Vegas event last year where a manual Supra supposedly made an appearance.
The car will be called either the GR Corolla or the Corolla GR-Four. If the latter name makes the cut, the number will apply to the all-wheel-drive system, not the engine. The 1.6-liter three-cylinder is expected to do nigh-on 300 horsepower and send power through the Yaris' six-speed manual transmission and mechanical AWD setup with a center differential and varying torque splits front-to-back.
The hatchback version will be the only one on offer at first, and perhaps for good, wearing a "widebody look" with a revised bumper in front and either two or three exhaust tips in back. Other reports have claimed two outlets, The Drive's source said three, which would make a nice point of emphasis on what is already a highly anticipated exclamation point of a car. For comparison, the regular Toyota Yaris doesn't show any exhaust tips, the GR Yaris sports two. On the rear of the standard Corolla hatch, a body-colored, diffuser-mimicking insert features two exhaust finisher-looking pieces that are so narrow they could be mistaken for random ornament. Another report also mentioned something along the lines of "aero tweaks later reported to be a mock diffuser."
Strangely, the source wasn't sure the hatch would make it here by the end of the year. Seeing that production-looking prototypes have been teased a few times already, we would be most disappointed to wait until calendar-year 2023 for a market launch. An MSRP somewhere in the mid-$30,000s, giving the GR Corolla plenty of room to the GR86 below and 2.0-liter Supra above — as well as the $45,000 Volkswagen Golf R — remains the prediction.