The popular Toyota Corolla Cross will be getting an update in Thailand this February, being on the receiving end of a slightly refreshed exterior design and a smattering of new tech inside the cabin.
This specific model won’t be coming to our roads, but, it does give us a good indication of when we can expect the local Cross to be updated, and how it might look once it is.
The Thai market was the first one in the world in which the Corolla Cross went on sale, this happening back in July 2020, while South Africa only got the crossover in November of the following year.
The Toyota has therefore been available locally for a smidge over two years, while it has been in Thailand for almost exactly three-and-a-half years.
Using this timeline, we can predict that the South African Cross is likely to be updated towards the middle of 2025 and that, at least on the cosmetics front, it will be rather similar to the facelifted Thai variant.
Everything new on the Thai Corolla Cross
Aesthetically, not much will change on the revised Corolla Cross according to Thai publication Auto Life.
Headlining alterations take the form of restyled head and taillights with more visual flair, as well as a stylish new 18-inch wheel option, but the rest of the shell remains virtually identical to the current iteration.
The spec sheet of the Toyota in the Southeast Asian nation will, however, be bolstered by a raft of new features to be more in line with its rivals.
These include a fully digital 12.3-inch driver’s cluster to replace the basic multi-info TFT display that is currently in use, a central touchscreen that grows from 8 to 10.5 inches, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto support, a wireless charging system, a panoramic sunroof, a nine-speaker stereo up from six speakers, an electronic parking brake with auto brake hold, adaptive cruise control, and one additional airbag on the top-spec trims for a total of eight.
We already have adaptive cruise control on the Corolla Cross XR and GR-S in South Africa, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see a handful of the other enhancements make their way to the new model come 2025.
In Thailand, the facelifted Cross retains the familiar engine assortment that is available locally, too, comprising 1.8-litre petrol and petrol-hybrid configurations.
The petrol-only option generates 103kW and registers a combined fuel usage of 6.8l/100km, whereas the hybrid puts out 90kW and sips fuel at a rate of 4.3l/100km. All variants drive the front wheels only through a continuously variable transmission (CVT).
Based on this, we expect that the South African Cross will also keep both choices available to customers when it’s revised in the future.
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