The is a

compact car Compact car is a vehicle size class — predominantly used in North America — that sits between subcompact cars and mid-size cars. "Small family car" is a British term and a part of the C-segment in the European car classification. However ...

manufactured by

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

as a variant of the

Toyota Corolla The is a series of compact cars (formerly subcompact) manufactured and marketed globally by the Toyota Motor Corporation. Introduced in 1966, the Corolla was the best-selling car worldwide by 1974 and has been one of the best-selling cars in ...

. Exclusively sold in the

Japanese domestic market Japanese domestic market (JDM) refers to Japan's home market for vehicles and vehicle parts. There is a common misconception that any Japanese branded car is JDM; however, this is not true. Only a vehicle made in Japan specifically to be sold i ...

, the Sprinter was aimed to be sportier than its Corolla sibling, with the Sprinter being sold at the '' Toyota Auto Store'' (renamed to '' Toyota Vista Store'' in 1980 and '' Netz Store'' in 1998) while the Corolla was sold at the eponymous ''Toyota Corolla Store'', which focused on economical cars compared to the more upmarket Vista store. The Sprinter is notable for being used as the base vehicle for two joint projects between

and

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

in the United States and Australia, known under GM as the S-car. From 1984 to 2002, variants of the Sprinter were manufactured by NUMMI in

Fremont, California Fremont is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. Located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area, Fremont has a population of 230,504 as of 2020, making it the fourth List of cities and towns in the San Fra ...

, known as the Chevrolet Nova (1984–1988), Geo Prizm (1988–1997), and Chevrolet Prizm (1997–2002). The Holden Nova was manufactured by

United Australian Automobile Industries United Australian Automobile Industries (UAAI) was an automobile model sharing firm that operated in Australia between 1987 and 1996 as the result of an agreement between Holden (the Australian subsidiary of General Motors) and Toyota Australia ...

from 1989 to 1996. Each generation of the Corolla had a corresponding Sprinter sibling, until the introduction of the E120-series Corolla in 2000. The Sprinter was directly replaced by the

Toyota Allex The Toyota Corolla (E120/E130) is the ninth generation of compact cars sold by Toyota under the Corolla nameplate. In Japan, this series arrived to the market in August 2000; however, exports were typically not achieved until 2001 and 2002 depe ...

, while the Corolla-derived Pontiac Vibe was imported from the United States to the

badged as the

Toyota Voltz The Pontiac Vibe is a compact car that was sold by Pontiac from 2002 to 2010. It was jointly developed by General Motors along with Toyota, who manufactures the mechanically similar Toyota Matrix. Manufactured by the Toyota-GM joint venture NUMMI ...

. Both were sold at the ''Netz Store'', which succeeded the ''Toyota Auto Store/Toyota Vista Store'' dealer network. __TOC__

First generation (E10; 1968)

The first generation Sprinter was introduced in March 1968 as a fastback version of the first generation

Corolla Corolla may refer to: *Corolla (botany), the petals of a flower, considered as a unit *Toyota Corolla, an automobile model name *Corolla (headgear) A ''corolla'' is an ancient headdress in the form of a small circlet or crown.Toyota Auto Store''. This was the only version to include the word "Corolla" in its name. Like the rest of the Corolla range, the 1077 cc K engine was upgraded to the 1166 cc 3K engine in September 1969. The Corolla was sold at a different dealership in Japan called ''Toyota Corolla Store''.

Second generation (E20; 1970)

In May 1970, the Sprinter was released as a variation of the second generation

Corolla Corolla may refer to: *Corolla (botany), the petals of a flower, considered as a unit *Toyota Corolla, an automobile model name *Corolla (headgear) A ''corolla'' is an ancient headdress in the form of a small circlet or crown.Toyota Corolla Store Toyota vehicles in Japan are distributed to numerous dealership chains throughout the country. Up to May 2020, each dealership chain had a different product offering, with some models restricted to one chain to maintain exclusivity. Since May 2020, ...

'' dealers in Japan that they would receive exclusive rights to sell the Corolla. In order to sell through the ''Toyota Auto Store'' dealer network, the Sprinter was no longer called a Corolla, even though the differences were mostly cosmetic. In Japan, the 3K engine was supplemented by a 1407 cc T engine in September 1970. Some markets received the 1588 cc 2T engine in March 1972. With the twincam 2T-G engine the vehicle was known as the Sprinter Trueno. A special model called the "Sprinter Trueno J" had all the Trueno's equipment but used the single-cam, twin carburetor 2T-B engine.

Third generation (E40, E60; 1974)

1974 brought the third generation Sprinter based on the third generation

Corolla Corolla may refer to: *Corolla (botany), the petals of a flower, considered as a unit *Toyota Corolla, an automobile model name *Corolla (headgear) A ''corolla'' is an ancient headdress in the form of a small circlet or crown.Pulsar A pulsar (from ''pulsating radio source'') is a highly magnetized rotating neutron star that emits beams of electromagnetic radiation out of its magnetic poles. This radiation can be observed only when a beam of emission is pointing toward Ea ...

Fourth generation (E70; 1979)

The 1979 fourth generation Sprinter was based on the fourth generation

Corolla Corolla may refer to: *Corolla (botany), the petals of a flower, considered as a unit *Toyota Corolla, an automobile model name *Corolla (headgear) A ''corolla'' is an ancient headdress in the form of a small circlet or crown.A engines, the Sprinter received a facelift with a wedge-shaped nose. Images of this generation can be foun
here

Fifth generation (E80; 1983)

Toyota SPRINTER TRUENO 3door (AE86) front

The fifth generation Sprinter was based on the 1983 fifth generation

Corolla Corolla may refer to: *Corolla (botany), the petals of a flower, considered as a unit *Toyota Corolla, an automobile model name *Corolla (headgear) A ''corolla'' is an ancient headdress in the form of a small circlet or crown.FWD and RWD models. This was the last generation of Sprinters to have RWD, so it remains a favourite of sports car enthusiasts—particularly in drifting. Fame was brought to this model by its appearance in the ''

Initial D is a Japanese street racing manga series written and illustrated by Shuichi Shigeno. It was serialized in Kodansha's '' seinen'' manga magazine '' Weekly Young Magazine'' from 1995 to 2013, with the chapters collected into 48 ' ...

'' Japanese animation. The four door sedan and the five door liftback were sold in North America under the resurrected name of Chevrolet Nova, the first of several Toyotas built by General Motors known as their S-platform under license at NUMMI. The Japanese market Sprinter was available as the following models: The AE82 Sprinter sedan had slightly different head lamps compared to the AE82 Corolla, windows in the inclined c-pillars, different tail lamps the boot was placed a little higher and front aero grills were like the AE86 Levin. It had an overall similarity with the AE86 Levin coupe. The RWD Sprinter came with pop-up head lamps (the Corolla had fixed head lamps) and the front bumper was raised a little to accommodate them. The US Corolla GTS shared the head lamps with the Japanese market AE86 Sprinter but with small differences such as lower lift height and US globe fittings. The Sprinter sold in Australia was actually identical to a Japanese market Corolla in all of its specifications (e.g. no pop-up head lamps, Japanese market tail lamps). FWD grades: * ZX, SX * DX,Special DX * XL, Super XL, XL Lisse * SE, SE Saloon, Riviere * SR, GT RWD grades: * XL, SE, SR, GT, GTV, GT Apex, Black Limited

Sixth generation (E90; 1987)

The sixth generation Sprinter was shared with the sixth generation

Corolla Corolla may refer to: *Corolla (botany), the petals of a flower, considered as a unit *Toyota Corolla, an automobile model name *Corolla (headgear) A ''corolla'' is an ancient headdress in the form of a small circlet or crown.Geo Prizm. ;Exterior The E90 models started production in 1988 and ended in mid-1991; like previous models it got mid-life facelifts called (ZENKI) 1st face and (KOUKI) 2nd face. The GT versions, as usual, were given a front lip and a spoiler at the back. The Sprinter was available as the following models: The Sprinter was available in the following grades: :MX, MX saloon, SE, XL, GT, AV-I, AV-II, RVS, GT Apex (other)

Seventh generation (E100; 1991)

The seventh generation Sprinter was shared with the seventh generation

Corolla Corolla may refer to: *Corolla (botany), the petals of a flower, considered as a unit *Toyota Corolla, an automobile model name *Corolla (headgear) A ''corolla'' is an ancient headdress in the form of a small circlet or crown.Geo Prizm sedan, as the liftback body style was discontinued in the North American market. For this generation only, Toyota introduced a 4-door hardtop sedan (with frameless door windows) called the Sprinter Marino. The new 20-valve 4A-GE (''"Silver Top"'') engines were ahead of its time when they were offered during this generation, coming with features like VVT, individual throttle bodies (ITB's), a compression ratio of 10.8:1 and a five-valve-per-cylinder head design. This helped the cars equipped with it to accelerate from 0–100 km/h in approximately 6 seconds and reach a top speed of over 200 km/h. A five-valve-per-cylinder engine was unusual for the time, however

Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group historically descended from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company which existed from 1870 ...

was the first to offer a five-valve-per-cylinder engine in the Minica Dangan ZZ-4

kei car Kei car (or , kanji: , "light automobile", ), known variously outside Japan as Japanese city car or Japanese microcar, is the Japanese vehicle category for the smallest highway-legal passenger cars with restricted dimensions and engine capaci ...

in 1989.

Eighth generation (E110; 1995)

The eighth generation Sprinter was shared with the eighth generation

Corolla Corolla may refer to: *Corolla (botany), the petals of a flower, considered as a unit *Toyota Corolla, an automobile model name *Corolla (headgear) A ''corolla'' is an ancient headdress in the form of a small circlet or crown.Allex badge. The E110 Sprinter was only marketed in the Japanese market. Its exterior was similar to the E110 Corolla but there were small differences like the Sprinter badges in the front grill, alternative rear lights, and the addition of a rear quarter window in the C-pillars. This body style continued in North America, with some minor changes, as the Chevrolet Prizm, when the Geo brand was discontinued. In Japan, the Sprinter Carib was based on the 5-door 1.6 L (1,587 cc) station wagon. This version came standard with electric windows, air bags for both driver and front passenger and automatic transmission; several engine options were available. Externally it could be distinguished from the Corolla by its black, rather than body-coloured upper bumper and side moldings and door handles. In front, new headlights and air intake moldings and radiator intake openings were used, often with a "Carib" nameplate. The Carib was also fitted with a spoiler, with an integrated brake light, above the rear window on the back hatch, and some were fitted with roof rails. A "Carib" decal was used on the right, rear window in place of "Corolla". Some versions of the Carib were four-wheel drive. Hiroshi Okamoto designed the front exterior design. ;Engines 2E-E, 5A-FE, 4A-FE, 4A-GE (16-valve), 4A-GE (20-valve), 2C

Ninth, tenth, and eleventh generations (E120, E140, E180; 2006, 2010, 2014)

The Sprinter name was reused as a sportier specification of the ninth generation Corolla in South Africa in 2006. The next two generations of the Corolla Sprinter, based on the tenth and eleventh generations of the Corolla, were released in 2010 and 2014.

References

External links

AE82 Chevrolet Nova review
{{Toyota Motor Corporation Sprinter 1960s cars 1970s cars 1980s cars 1990s cars 2000s cars Toyota Corolla