Toyota Corona: История модели

Series of automobiles manufactured by Toyota

The Toyota Corona (Japanese: トヨタ・コロナ) is an automobile manufactured by the Japanese automaker Toyota across eleven generations between 1957 and 2001. On launch, the Corona was Toyota's second highest product in their range, just below the Crown. The Corona was marketed in the JDM at Toyota's Toyopet Store dealership channels, and the Corona was one of Toyota's first models exported to other global markets, followed by the smaller Toyota Corolla. The Corona played a key role in Toyota's North American success. Having previously entered the North American passenger car market in 1957 as Toyopet, the company met little success, withdrawing in 1961. The company re entered the North American market in June 1964, rebranded as Toyota, introducing its third generation Corona with more modern technology and numerous standard features. Toyota advertised the car prominently, with the company's first television commercial featuring the Corona. The car was well received, winning the 1969 Road Test Import Car of the Year. By 1968, the Corona name was used on a larger platform, marketed as the Corona Mark II. The Corona itself was marketed under a numerous nameplates worldwide, including in European markets as Carinas, and a variant of the Corona was offered in various markets as the Carina. The Corona was ultimately replaced in Japan by the Toyota Premio; in Europe by the Toyota Avensis; and in Asia, Pacific markets, and the Americas by the Toyota Camry. The nameplate corona derives from the Latin word for "crown", the sedan taking its place just below Toyota's similarly named flagship, the Toyota Crown. +Timelines (expands)
TOC

The Corona was the first Toyota assembled in New Zealand, from February 1967 at Steel Brothers' Motor Assemblies in Christchurch. It was also built by Shinjin Motor in South Korea from 1966 until 1972.

When the Celica was realigned from its former Toyota "A series" RWD platform to share the Corona "T series" FWD platform, the Celica notchback was rebranded as the Corona Coupé in Japan, which was identical to the internationally available Celica version with the only difference being the removal of the retractable headlights in favour of conventional fixed items. This replaced the rear wheel drive T140 Corona Coupé, leaving only a few vans and sedans in the RWD Corona lineup. The T160 series cars have a somewhat longer wheelbase as well as a wider track (front and rear) than the Celica version available elsewhere in the world. The Corona Coupé remained exclusive to Toyopet Store Japanese dealerships along with the larger, all new Toyota Soarer, while the Celica liftback and convertible remained at Toyota Corolla Store locations. The Corona Coupé was manufactured from 1985 until 1989. In 1994 it was belatedly replaced by the Toyota Curren and sold at Toyota Vista Store locations. The Corona Coupé came with three engines; the SOHC 1.8 litre 1S iLU and two twin cams, the 1.6 litre 4A GELU or the 2 litre 3S GELU. Chassis codes are ST160, AT160, and ST162. In May 1988, the 1.8 litre engine was replaced by the twin cam 4S FiLU.

The Corona and the Toyota Carina continued to increase in size, introduced in December 1987. Because of Japanese taxation laws, both models got to the maximum permitted for a lower tax bracket, and in the 1980s and early 1990s, the cars were the same size. The previous generation ST160 Corona Coupé was not renewed with this generation. It did not receive a direct replacement until 1993, when it was renamed as the Toyota Curren. For this generation, the all new Corona EXiV four door hardtop was offered, as only two door hardtops were previously available. This was the last generation to offer the Corona GT to Japanese buyers, equipped with Toyota's active suspension technology called TEMS included with their "PEGASUS" branded four wheel independent suspension and "LASRE" branded multi port fuel injection technology on the 3S GELU engine. The five door Corona liftback was sold as the "Corona SF" in Japan, in a much smaller lineup than the four door sedan. The five door model proved much more popular in Europe, where, confusingly, it was marketed as the Carina II. The sedan and a wagon were also part of the Carina II lineup, which was a rebadged Corona rather than the T170 Carina sold in Japan. The lightly restyled Carina T170 series derivative was launched in Japan simultaneously with the Corona. In August 1988 a four wheel drive Corona was added using All Trac, powered by the fuel injected, 1.6 litre 4A FE engine. In November 1989 the Corona underwent a minor facelift, including a redesigned front grille with densely packed vertical bars rather than the earlier four horizontal ones. The front of the Van remained unchanged. Meanwhile, the taillights and rear fascia were given a horizontal theme and the rear number plate was moved to the bottom of the bumper. The 1.5 and 1.8 litre engines were upgraded to EFI in the 4S FE and 5A FE types. Power of the 2.0 GT increased to , requiring unleaded premium gasoline. The Select Saloon, previously a special edition, became a regular catalog model in place of the MX version. A limited production Corona was sold only in Japan in May 1990, to celebrate 10 million Corona's having been sold, called the Corona Super Roomy. It added to the wheelbase, and was limited to 500 units.

The T180 series Corona was introduced as the Toyota Corona EXiV which was shared with a Carina twin, called the Toyota Carina ED. According to Toyota, the letters EXiV derived from the words EXtra impressiVe. The Corona EXiV followed from the successes of the Corona Coupé, by introducing a sleek appearance of a low slung coupé, while adding two more doors, in the tradition of a four door coupé. Built on the same version of the Corona chassis as that used for the Celica, this was a continuation of the sporting T160 series Corona although it now received its own bodywork.

A final, tenth generation was built between January 1996 and December 2001 for the Japanese market, with one particular model called the Toyota Corona Premio that was spun off into an independent model called the Premio (coded ST210), with the Allion following after the Carina after 2001. The Corona Premio was offered as Base Premio, Premio E, and Premio G. Four cylinder engine choices are 1.6 litre 4A FE, 1.8 litre lean burn 7A FE, and 2.0 litre 3S FE. Diesel engines offered were 2.0 litre 2C T and later on replaced by more economical 2.2 litre 3C T. This is the last model using Corona name in Japan. The automatic model of the Corona Premio came with three selectable driving modes for its electronically controlled transmission: Normal, ECT PWR (power mode), and ECT MANU (manual mode).

Sharing a platform with the T210 series Toyota Corona and Toyota Carina, the Caldina is the Japanese version of the Toyota Avensis, which replaced the Carina E in Europe. The 4WD models are coded ST215, and are offered as Active Sports GT with the 3S GE engine. The top of the line GT T came with the turbocharged 4th generation 3S GTE engine, and included an all wheel drive system similar to the Toyota Celica GT Four. The GT T also came with optional electronic stability control (VSC) (standard on Active Sports versions). The Aerial version features a large sunroof and contoured roof racks as standard. Weighing , the Caldina GT T offers similar performance to a Subaru WRX wagon achieving 0–100 km/h in 7 seconds. A refresh was given in 2000 with new bumpers and lamps a refreshed interior and extra lug added to the turbo manifold to stop the warping issue common on earlier GT T models. Engines for lesser models are the 1.8 L 7A FE, the 2.0 L gasoline 3S FE, and the 2.2 L diesel 3C TE.

For the subsequent model series, the T220, the Corona name was dropped in Japan and most other markets. It was built as sedan, liftback and wagon. Only the wagon was sold in Japan as the Caldina, built on the T210 platform. The sedan and liftback were mainly sold in Europe as Avensis, while the lower grade model sepcifically for taxi use was called Corona. Four cylinder engines for the Avensis are 1.6, 1.8, 2.0 gasoline, and diesel/turbodiesel. The Corona Taxi was only available with the diesel engines. In South America, the Avensis was sold as the Corona Avensis, powered by 2.0 litre 3S FE engine. This was the last Corona although the T series platform was continued with the new T240, used for the third generation Caldina and the new Allion and Premio models.