For those who found my rant on the Corolla Cross’s styling TL;DR, my hate towards it was directed to one small thing: the lazily applied trunk badge. Of course, as with anything on social media nowadays, most got stuck on the headline, and either quickly rallied to or against the crossover’s overall styling.

This, of course, could serve as an appetizer on what’s in store for Toyota Motor Philippines when they officially take the wraps off the Corolla Cross on August 20.

The styling is so divisive that Toyota Vietnam came up with a revised front-end for their local market, and suddenly it’s become a lot more acceptable.

Though the rear trunk badge is still crudely placed, Toyota Vietnam corrected the biggest complaint lobbed at the front: that gaping honeycomb grille. 

The local version there adds a bright horizontal strip that cuts the catfish-like appearance. That same bright strip has been made to decorate the front bumper “fangs” as well. And in a rather interesting move, it also serves as a visual differentiator between the hybrid and non-hybrid guise—the non-hybrid gets the brightwork in traditional chrome, while the hybrid gets it in shiny blue.

Update: apparently, the grille and fangs are available as accessories for the Thai market as well. However, it seems Toyota Vietnam has gone ahead and outfitted all their units with the aforementioned accessories as standard equipment, or at least outfitted them for all their official media shots.



The rest of the car remains the same although it’s worth noting that the Vietnam version is well-loaded with features such as dual-zone climate control with rear vents, reclining rear seats with armrest and USB outlet, and a 9-inch infotainment system with Apple CarPlay (we’re putting this in bold in case our version doesn’t have it). It also happens to get the awesome Terra Rossa-colored interior as well.

As Vietnam’s first-ever hybrid model, the Corolla Cross there tops out at 918,000,000 Vietnamese Dong (P 1.937 million~). The non-hybrid comes in at 720,000,000 Vietnamese Dong (P 1.52 million~). Interestingly, the Philippine version is expected to retail at P 1.285 million to P 1.65 million—more affordable than it is in Thailand or Vietnam; though it’s understood that the local version’s been de-contented to achieve that price. I guess we’ll all find out on August 20 as Toyota Motor Philippines reveals the Corolla Cross in full.