The Toyota Corona (Japanese: トヨタ・コロナ, Toyota Korona) is an automobile manufactured by the Japanese automaker Toyota through ten generations between 1957 and 2001. Traditionally, the competitor from Nissan was the Nissan Bluebird.[citation needed] The word "corona" is Latin for "crown", a reference to an earlier vehicle Toyota offered called the Toyota Crown. It was exclusive to Toyopet Store dealership channels in Japan, while the larger Crown was available only at Toyota Store locations.
In many countries, the Corona was one of Toyota's first international export models, and was shortly joined by the smaller Toyota Corolla, providing buyers with a choice of a larger car, with similar operating expenses to the smaller Corolla. The Corona was Toyota's second sedan in their hierarchy of products, just below the Crown, until 1968 when the Corona name was used on a larger, all new platform called the Toyota Corona Mark II, which gave buyers more interior space while still offering dependable, affordable performance.
The Corona became successful in export markets and was marketed under a number of different nameplates worldwide—including those branded in much of Asia as Coronas marketed in European markets as Carinas.
Second generation (T20, T30; 1960–1964)
This generation of the Corona was also known as the Tiara (in keeping with the crown naming convention) when exported by Toyota Motor Corporation. It was introduced at a critical time for the company in North America. Their first flagship car, the Toyopet Crown, was unsuccessful in the US market, and the Corona was added to offer a choice along with the Land Cruiser. At the time, there was little market for an off-road vehicle like the Land Cruiser. The front mask of the T20 Corona is reminiscent of the 1955–1957 Ford Thunderbird, and shares its appearance with the entry-level offering, called the Toyota Publica.
The Tiara was introduced to sell alongside the Crown, as a smaller companion. Introduced in March 1960, the car was powered by a 45 PS (33 kW) 1.0 L "P" series motor. With a three-speed manual transmission, top speed was a mere 110 km/h (68 mph). In March 1961, Toyota introduced a more powerful 1.5-litre "R" series motor, the same motor from the Crown, and an even larger 1.9-litre engine was added in 1964. Fortunately for Toyota, the problems with the Crown were not seen on the Tiara as the lighter body (180 kg or 400 lb less than the Crown) made the R series engine more sufficient. The Tiara station wagon was seemingly aimed at women, with many of the original brochures featuring only women in a dinner dress as well as playing golf. Nevertheless, it sold better than the Crown and had a lot fewer mechanical problems. The Tiara ended up being the only sedan sold by Toyota in the USA until the reworked second-generation Crown appeared. By that time, the Tiara had been redesigned and given the Corona label from the Japanese domestic market. A total of only 318 of these vehicles were sold in the US.
In Australia the Tiara was produced in Port Melbourne, Victoria by Australian Motor Industries (AMI) starting from 1963.
Two concept cars were shown at the 1963 Tokyo Motor Show – the Corona 1500S Convertible and the Corona 1900S Sporty Sedan. The Corona Sports Coupe was a concept car shown at the 1963 Tokyo Motor Show – it shared little with the Corona except the suspension and the name. Load carrying abilities of the newly introduced Coronaline (which was technically a coupé utility) were shared with the heavier capacity Toyota Stout.
Source: Wikipedia
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