Hiroya Fujita, Chief Engineer for the 10th and 11th generation Corolla

The Corolla: A Companion for Most of My Career

To me, the Corolla has been an old friend with whom I have spent most of my time at Toyota. I got involved in developing the Corolla about 20 years ago. Now at Toyota Motor East Japan, I am overseeing the overall production of the Corolla, as well as the development of the Corolla for a specific region.

When I was assigned to the Corolla development team, the model was already in production in factories worldwide, and was sold across the globe. I was immediately astonished at the variety of Corollas that were available. For example, there are differences even between the types of engine compartments and engines, as well as the locations of the steering wheels which I worked on. I had to think about more than 50 types of engine compartment configurations.

As the Corolla was already produced and sold worldwide with a volume of more than 1 million units per year at that time, I heard a lot of feedback from customers around the world. When I became the chief engineer, I was reminded that we had a very big responsibility; to make the Corolla a car that really lives up to each and every expectation.

The Corolla development team constantly drew energy from the traditions associated with the vehicle, as well as from customer loyalty. As such, the members are all incredibly motivated. We are confident and proud that we are able to provide new value that exceeds that of previous generation Corollas. As chief engineer, I was careful to keep these things in mind, to bring them together, and to give them form.

Working on the development of the ninth-, tenth- and eleventh-generation models, we always had discussions on the name of the Corolla whenever we changed models. The name of the Corolla is an important issue. There are stores that use the word "Corolla" on their signs (one of the dealership channels in Japan is also named “Corolla”), numerous customers ride on the Corollas, and many of those customers expect to be shown something new when the next model arrives. At Toyota, those are the opinions which we feel that we need to respond to every time we develop a new Corolla in order to meet expectations. I think that this is why the name of the Corolla has long been unchanged until now.

The 10th Generation Corolla

The 11th Generation Corolla

Building Cars to Fully Meet Customer Needs Fully

The current model being sold in Japan (the eleventh generation) is exclusive to the domestic market. The aim of the decision was set to make the best Corolla for our Japanese customers. For example, we were able to use the same hybrid unit as the Aqua’s (the Aqua is named “Prius c” in overseas markets) for the hybrid version of the Corolla without losing interior space, and we were also able to ensure visibility and fine-tune the drivability to better suit the Japanese physique. Going forward, I believe that one of the keys to the success of the Corolla is on how much we can make a Corolla that meets the respective needs and expectations of our customers in each region.

I Want Corolla to Keep Outdoing Itself

One of my expectations for future Corollas is to continue with the Corolla mission, which places importance on advancements, and values new improvements. By watching global trends, including next-generation technologies like autonomous driving, plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHVs), and fuel-cell vehicles, I would like the Corolla to take technological leaps forward if necessary. As for myself, I would like to be involved in achieving this in the future as well.

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