Toyota Corolla Cross News

One of Toyota's most senior global executives has outlined the big changes coming to the brand's most popular hybrid vehicles, and laid out a timeframe of exactly when to expect them.

The Corolla Cross gets a GR-Sport variant with a handful of genuine tweaks, but will Australia ever see it?

Toyota has recalled 1271 Corolla sedan hybrids and Corolla Cross SUVs built between 2023 and 2024 due to a manufacturing defect that may cause a loss of steering control.Affected variants include the Corolla Cross hybrid (Atmos, GX, GXL), Corolla Cross petrol (Atmos, GX, GXL) and Corolla sedan hybrid (Ascent, Sport, SX).The recall notice, lodged with the Australian Government’s recall regulator, reads: “due to a manufacturing defect, cracks may develop in the upper universal joint of the steering intermediate shaft assembly.“Over time, these cracks can widen due to repeated stress and can lead to a loss of steering control.”In extreme cases, the recall notice said a loss of steering on affected vehicles could increase the risk of severe injury or death to vehicle occupants and/or other road users.Owners of affected vehicles will be contacted by a Toyota representative directly who will arrange a time to have the steering intermediate shaft replaced, free of charge.To check whether your vehicle has been impacted, you can search your VIN number on the Australian Government's Vehicle Recalls website.Alternatively, you can visit the Toyota website to find a local dealer or call 1800 987 366 for further information.

Is the Toyota bZ4X a sales disaster in Australia? Is Toyota failing at electric vehicles (EVs) generally? And why does senior management reckon there is a stink in the air for all the naysayers?

Toyota’s entire passenger range is going hybrid only from today.As first revealed by CarsGuide earlier this week, the Corolla Cross SUV will ditch its petrol engine variants and go hybrid only.Now Toyota has confirmed the RAV4 and Kluger SUVs and Corolla sedan will follow suit and only be available to order in hybrid form from today. Toyota has already announced its Yaris, Corolla hatch, Yaris Cross and C-HR are going hybrid only.Only the brand’s commercial vehicles and rugged 4WDs will be available with conventional petrol or diesel powertrains.Toyota Australia’s Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Dealer Operations Sean Hanley said the adoption of hybrid vehicles in Australia made this decision possible.“This is not a result of the impending New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES). These are trends that are in the market now. In fact, the new mandated standard confirms the foresight of Toyota’s strategy,” said Hanley.“We continue and we will do even more in coming years to innovate across a diverse range of drivetrains, which is the essence of Toyota’s multi pathway approach.“So in that sense, you could say Toyota has been embracing the spirit of the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard for an extended period with our hybrids, plus out move now into BEVs and our comprehensive future model plans that remain under wraps for now. We remain committed to allowing customers to choose the low carbon or no carbon drivetrain that best suits their circumstances.”The Federal Government’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) has passed through both houses of parliament and will come into effect next year.This new standard will penalise carmakers for every car they sell that produces more CO2 than a set level. These levels will get harder to meet every year.There are few petrol-engined cars that will escape punishment but hybrids will slip under the mandated levels for a few years at least.In May, hybrid sales made up 48.9 per cent of the Toyota's total volume. More than 46 per cent of the brand's total sales for the first five months of this year have been hybrids.The top-selling RAV4 was more than 95 per cent hybrid the past month, demand for the Camry hybrid was up more than 250 per cent and Corolla Cross Hybrid sales have more than doubled this year.Petrol sales still make up about 20 per cent of Kluger SUV volume, though.The deletion of the petrol options for the Corolla Cross, RAV4 and Kluger means it’ll be more expensive to get into one of these models, too.Hybrid power costs $2500 more in the Corolla Cross and RAV4 and a whopping $6500 extra in the seven-seat Kluger. That big jump is due to Kluger hybrid variants only coming with all-wheel drive and not the cheaper two-wheel drive layout available in the petrol-only versions.That means the new entry point to Corolla Cross range is $36,480 (before on-road costs), $42,260 for the RAV4 and $60,920 for the Kluger.Toyota has no plans to add a cheaper two-wheel drive version of the Kluger hybrid, according to Hanley.The Japanese brand will honour all existing petrol orders, with those cars to be delivered over the next few months. Kluger petrol deliveries will stretch into next year, though.

The head of Toyota’s performance brand, Gazoo Racing (GR), says for the car giant’s ‘go-fast’ arm to continue to grow, it may need an SUV as part of its line-up.

The Toyota Corolla Cross is getting an update, but don't get excited because this isn't it - here's why.

Toyota has introduced a round of improvements to its Corolla Cross – the slightly-raised crossover wagon version of its strong-selling small-car range – some three and a quarter years after it first broke cover internationally. But for now the changes have only been announced for Japan – which is where Australian-market models are made ­– so there is no timeline as yet to when we will see the upd

The “glitch” that shut down Toyota’s Japanese production facilities last week has been found, and it is a more common problem than you might think.

SUVs made by Chinese manufacturers have climbed to the top of the SUV sales charts in some segments, leaving popular brands like Mazda, Kia and Mitsubishi in their wake. Just a few years ago Chinese brands like MG were slowly making their presence felt, but now they are dominating one segment in particular.