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(This story has been updated with additional information learned during the launch event.) Forget everything you thought you knew about the Toyota Corolla — well, almost everything. Toyota’s rewriting the Corolla’s history, adding a chapter titled “The Hot Hatch Years.” The automaker’s compact model has long been the segment’s best seller, even with its reputation for being one of its blandest models. Now, however, Toyota is ready to amp things up with the introduction of the 2023 GR Corolla. Coming almost a year after the debut of the ute-like Corolla Cross , the GR model aims to spice up the plain vanilla Toyota. Developed by Toyota’s Gazoo Racing team, the new five-door model comes through with more aggressive styling, a 300-horsepower engine and a tunable all-wheel-drive system. Oh, and let us not forget it uses a fast-throw 6-speed manual transmission. “We finally have a hot hatch here in the United States,” exclaimed Mike Tripp, Toyota Motor’s vice president of marketing...

Forget everything you thought you knew about the Toyota Corolla — well, almost everything. Toyota’s rewriting the Corolla’s history, adding a chapter titled “The Hot Hatch Years.” The automaker’s compact model has long been the segment’s best seller, even with its reputation for being one of its blandest models. Now, however, Toyota is ready to amp things up with the introduction of the 2023 GR Corolla. Coming almost a year after the debut of the ute-like Corolla Cross , the GR model aims to spice up the plain vanilla Toyota. Developed by Toyota’s Gazoo Racing team, the new five-door model comes through with more aggressive styling, a 300-horsepower engine and a tunable all-wheel-drive system. Oh, and let us not forget it uses a fast-throw 6-speed manual transmission. Toyota is billing the hot hatch as “Heat for the streets.” Oh, Great Gazoo! It’s the latest entry to bear the Gazoo badge, the racing operation also lending its skills to the Toyota GR 86 and GR Supra sports ca...

Seat belts save lives, however, if automakers could improve the reminder technology for the devices, they could save as many as 1,500 more people annually, according to new research. IIHS says automakers could save more lives if they improved the seat belt reminders in vehicles. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says its readying  a new ratings program for seat belt reminder systems , in hopes of getting automakers and federal safety regulators to bolster their effectiveness. “By now everybody knows that seat belts save lives when they are used,” says IIHS President David Harkey. “Our research shows that effective seat belt reminders can also save lives by getting those who aren’t diligent about belt use to buckle up. These new ratings are designed to push manufacturers to realize that potential.” Making the grade? Federal standards specify that seat belt reminders must include an audible signal that lasts for 4-8 seconds total and a visual alert that lasts at lea...

In what will be a surprise to virtually no one, new vehicle sales for the first quarter of 2022 are expected to be down 15.2% when automakers begin reporting the results on Friday. Low inventories are cutting new vehicle sales in the first quarter. Analysts at Edmunds.com  predict car companies sold a little less than 3.3 million vehicles  during Q1, which is a decrease on a year-over-year basis, but a 0.4% improvement compared with the fourth quarter of 2021. The reasons for the drop remain the same as they have been for some time now, Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds’ executive director of insights, said. “Skyrocketing gas prices were top of mind for consumers in March, but the lack of inventory is what ultimately depressed new vehicle sales in the first quarter,” she said.  “Automakers are still grappling with ongoing disruptions to supply chains and production created by the chip shortage and COVID-19; on top of that, they’re likely facing new challenges as a result...

Since the world has started getting back to normal, the behaviors exhibited by drivers during the pandemic — driving faster and more dangerously — seem to be getting worse.  The lighter traffic volumes during the pandemic due to shelter-in-place orders gave some drivers a little too much courage. Statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration suggest traffic fatalities rose 12% during the first nine months of 2021. It’s  the highest number of fatalities during the first nine months of the year since 2006 and the highest percentage increase during the same period in the recorded history of data in the Fatality Analysis Reporting System, or FARS. During much of the pandemic in 2020, the amount of traffic on American roads was down significantly due to lockdowns instituted across the country. However, the traffic fatality rate actually increased despite there being fewer vehicles on the road. Experts at the time suggested the lighter traffic volumes e...

China’s largest city, Shanghai, has entered a two-phase lockdown to respond to rising COVID cases, a move that has effectively shut down the city’s massive manufacturing operations. China’s two-phase lockdown in Shanghai is going to impact global automotive production. The lockdown began on the eastern side of the city. Known as Pudong, it contains most of the city’s automotive facilities, including numerous parts factories, as well as assembly plants run by major manufacturers like General Motors, Volkswagen and Tesla. The campaign will then shift to the western side of Shanghai, known as Puxi, where many factory workers live, so the impact could stretch out through early April. And that will have an impact on not only on the Chinese market, but the global auto industry depending upon the vehicles, parts and components produced in Shanghai. COVID crackdown Since the COVID pandemic began — most experts tracing it back to the Chinese city of Wuhan — the government has taken an ...

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