A Toyota Corolla sedan, seen near a car market in Beijing in 2019. The Corolla was a little dirty and dusty, with some dents and rust, but overall it didn’t look that bad for its old age.
The seventh generation (E100) Toyota Corolla was made from 1991 until 1998. Like it was common back then, design and specs of the Corolla differed considerably depending on market. The car we have here is a base model North American-spec Corolla sedan. Initially, the sedans were made in Japan and exported to the US and Canada.
Later on, most were made locally. In the US, the Corolla was produced in Toyota’s NUMMI plant in Fremont, California. Toyota famously sold this plant to Tesla in 2010 for $50 million in Tesla stock + a deal to jointly develop EVs. In 2017, Toyota cancelled the deal and sold its Tesla stock. I guess they thought they got their EV base covered with the Prius.
The interior of our Corolla was in a pretty bad shape. The leather seats were worn out and the plastics look blistered and broken. But the door panels seem all right! The steering wheel cover and radio are after-market accessories.
The base model Corolla was powered by a 1.6 liter ‘4A-FE’ four-cylinder petrol engine with an output of 100 hp and 145 Nm. The motor was mated to a five-speed manual, sending horses to the front wheels.
The seventh generation Toyota Corolla wasn’t sold in China so it is ultra rare here. This car likely arrived in China via the foreign-owned company way or via diplomatic channels.
MashiMaro (마시마로) is a South Korean cartoon character. The name means ‘bizarre rabbit’ in Korean. MashiMaro is also very popular in the rest of Asia and this kind of stickers are quite common on cars in China.
There weren’t many Japanese cars in China in the 1990’s, in fact, there weren’t many cars at all. Since about 2008, when I started spotting in earnest, I have seen only a few dozen pre-2000 Japanese cars, not counting the early joint venture cars and the infamous Guangdong-scheme cars.
Keeping these oldies on the road is very hard as there aren’t many parts available and there isn’t really any expertise either. Happily, the Corolla is rather strong and able to survive quite long all on its own.
This white example seems savable but one may wonder if there is anyone who cares enough. No matter how cool it may seem because of its rarity, in the end, it is really just a Corolla.
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