Toyota scraps dowdy compact strategy with bolder, roomier Corolla

The venerable Corolla, the best-selling nameplate in the world and a longtime gateway to the Toyota brand for many buyers, has been consistently vanilla and a reliable quantity, with close to 40 million copies sold to date globally.

But more stylish rivals have loosened Toyota's grip on the sizable U.S. compact car market, drawing younger buyers and forcing the company to change gears.

The redesigned Corolla is also bigger. With nearly four inches added to the wheelbase, and nearly three inches added to its overall length, the new version is three inches longer than the Civic and four inches longer than the Focus, further blurring the lines of what is considered a compact car.

The 11th-generation Corolla was created with what Toyota describes as striking, "iconic dynamism" exterior styling to more directly challenge chic-and-cheerful compact sedans from Ford (Focus), Hyundai (Elantra) and Mazda (Mazda3).

It was introduced in Santa Monica, Calif., Thursday evening.

"The current Corolla is fine, but this car has been elevated to appeal to a broader audience," Toyota Division general manager Bill Fay said in an interview. "We built the Toyota brand with Corolla, and with Corolla's [quality, dependability and reliability] story. With this car, there's a lot to talk about, there's more to work with. This is not the Corolla you expect."

Toyota will begin wholesaling the new Corolla to U.S. dealers in September.

Fay believes the redesigned model can easily break the 300,000-unit mark in annual U.S. sales, a milestone last reached in 2008, when Corolla Matrix sales were included.

Last year marked the first time since 2002 that the Corolla wasn't the best-selling compact car in the United States.

It was outsold by the heavily incentivized Honda Civic, 317,909 units to 290,947. So far through May, Corolla has regained the lead over Civic, 132,514 to 128,980, although Honda says it still has the lead in retail registrations to individuals.

Still, Corolla sales have fallen worldwide from a peak of 1.42 million units in 2006 as the Civic, Elantra, Focus and other competitors have attracted consumers with better fuel economy, lower prices and more dynamic styling.

In terms of styling, while it's dangerous to be too conservative, "Toyota has shown you can be conservative in a segment and still be successful," said Jim Hall, principal of 2953 Analytics in suburban Detroit. "The details don't make or break a car. It's how it works as a whole that is why the Corolla has been successful."

Last redesigned in spring 2008, the Corolla is again on a five-year product cycle. The last time around, Toyota delayed the Corolla by more than a year -- to a six-year span -- after being caught off guard by competitors' much-improved products.

The current Corolla -- with a 27 mpg city/34 highway rating -- trails the 39 and 40 mpg highway fuel economy ratings on rival compacts.

Corolla buyers also tend to be less educated and earn less money than consumers who buy other cars in the segment. The Corolla is more popular among growing minority groups, notably Hispanics.

With the new Corolla, Toyota is also going to have to make inroads with online shoppers. According to Edmunds, more Corolla shoppers consider rival vehicles than vice versa, across every compact nameplate.

For instance, while 27 percent of Corolla shoppers also looked at the Civic, only 11 percent of Civic shoppers also considered a Corolla.