Toyota unveiled its next-generation vehicle architecture for EVs and hybrids yesterday, and today we may have seen the first glimpse of it. Spy photos show what initially appears to be a prototype for an updated Corolla Cross, but the details point to something quite different underneath.
The headlights are clearly not from the production Corolla Cross, but they are only the first clue. The prototype also has a noticeably shorter wheelbase than the genuine SUV’s 103.9-inch (2,640 mm) measurement. There are no exhaust tailpipes, either, while a frame can be seen beneath the floorpan.
Does that mean Toyota is developing an electric Corolla Cross? Not from the current SUV, which launched in North America in late 2021 and received a facelift for model year 2026. Instead, this vehicle is what automakers call a mule: an existing model heavily modified to test new technology before purpose-built prototypes are ready for public roads.
Our suspicion is that the camouflaged SUV is evaluating Toyota’s new “multi pathway” platform, confirmed by the automaker earlier this week. Nearly all of Toyota’s current unibody passenger cars and SUVs, including the production Corolla Cross, use some version of the TNGA architecture. However, the e-TNGA platform used by electric models such as the bZ is substantially different from the conventional TNGA setup found in combustion and hybrid vehicles, including the Corolla sedan and Corolla Cross. The new architecture is intended to bring those approaches closer together.
Rather than creating separate vehicles and platforms for each type of powertrain, Toyota plans to use one hardware set for all of them. That could make the first-ever Corolla EV possible while simplifying development and manufacturing, allowing factories to adjust production volumes between powertrain types as customer demand changes.
Toyota says the shared architecture will not force compromises on any powertrain and claims hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles will consume 15 percent less fuel. They will use a new 1.5-liter inline-three engine, replacing both the 1.5-liter three-cylinder and 1.8-liter inline-four engines Toyota currently uses. The new engines and platform are due on the road next year, with more sightings of development mules likely before then.
Toyota appears to be testing its newly announced multi-pathway architecture beneath a shortened, modified Corolla Cross body. The platform is designed to support electric, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid powertrains using common hardware, potentially enabling the first electric Corolla. Toyota also says its upcoming hybrids and plug-in hybrids will use 15 percent less fuel, with new 1.5-liter inline-three engines arriving alongside the platform next year.
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