There was no 2020 Toyota Auris in Europe. Toyota discontinued the Auris nameplate in January 2019, when the new-generation Corolla replaced it across the continent. The only market that kept the Auris badge into 2020 was Taiwan, where the car was sold until July 2020 and then renamed Corolla Sport. Buyers who remember an Auris on sale in Europe in 2020 are thinking of the Corolla that took its place.
What the Auris Was
The Auris was a compact C-segment hatchback derived from the Corolla. Toyota introduced it in Europe in 2006 for the 2007 model year, positioning it as the replacement for the Corolla hatchback while the Corolla sedan name continued. The name comes from the Latin word aurum, meaning gold. The Auris competed with cars such as the Volkswagen Golf, Ford Focus and Opel Astra.
The Generations
The Auris went through three generations, though the name ended with the third.
- First generation (E150), 2006–2012: a three- and five-door hatchback sharing its platform with the E150 Corolla; also sold in Japan as the Toyota Blade and in Australasia as a Corolla.
- Second generation (E180), 2012–2018: a five-door hatchback plus a wagon called the Touring Sports; sold in North America as the Scion iM and then the Corolla iM.
- Third generation (TNGA), from 2018: a pre-production version appeared at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2018, and the production car became the E210 Corolla in early 2019.
The Third Generation and TNGA
The final Auris was the first to use Toyota’s Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA). Toyota unveiled it as a pre-production model at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show, with the car sharing its platform with the new Corolla and C-HR. The shift to TNGA brought improved structural rigidity and a new generation of hybrid powertrains, and the hatchback and Touring Sports wagon bodies were carried forward.
Why the Auris Name Was Dropped
Toyota decided to unify its C-segment models under the Corolla name worldwide. Because the hatchback, sedan and wagon were all moving to the same TNGA platform, the company reasoned that a single global nameplate made more sense than keeping a different name for Europe. Toyota Motor Europe announced that the Auris nameplate would be discontinued with the introduction of the new-generation Corolla in early 2019.
What Replaced the Auris
The E210 Corolla replaced the Auris in Europe in 2019, offered as a hatchback, sedan and Touring Sports wagon. It introduced a new 2.0-liter hybrid alongside the established 1.8-liter hybrid, giving buyers more power without abandoning the self-charging hybrid formula that had made the Auris Hybrid popular. The Corolla name also returned to a unified global identity for the first time in decades.
The Auris Hybrid
The Auris Hybrid was a significant model, especially in its later years, when hybrids made up a large share of Auris sales in Europe. It paired a 1.8-liter gasoline engine, coded 2ZR-FXE, with an electric motor and a battery, driving through an electronically controlled continuously variable transmission. The hybrid formula meant no plugging in and strong efficiency in city driving, and it established the template that the Corolla Hybrid would continue.
The Taiwanese Auris and Corolla Sport
Taiwan was the exception to the global rename. Toyota sold the Auris there from September 2018, powered by a 2.0-liter M20A-FKS gasoline engine mated to a Direct Shift continuously variable transmission, with equipment including Toyota Safety Sense and a head-up display. On 15 July 2020 the Taiwanese Auris was renamed Corolla Sport, ending the Auris nameplate for good.
The Auris in Motorsport
The Auris had a motorsport career as well. An Auris-based Corolla hatchback won the Australian Rally Championship in 2008 and 2009, using a modified 2.0-liter engine, an all-wheel-drive system and a six-speed sequential gearbox.
Buying Instead Today
For anyone who wanted a new Auris in 2020, the practical alternative was the Corolla. The E210 Corolla hatchback, sedan and Touring Sports offer more power, more equipment and a newer platform than the Auris it replaced. Used Auris models remain available in Europe, and because many were sold as hybrids, they are a relatively efficient used-car choice.
The Scion iM and Corolla iM Connection
The second-generation Auris crossed the Atlantic under different names. Toyota’s youth brand Scion sold it as the Scion iM in North America for 2016, and when the Scion marque was discontinued in 2016 the car was rebranded as the Toyota Corolla iM for 2017 and 2018. That means the Auris had a North American life that most buyers never connected to the European nameplate. The range-topping Yamaha-tuned version, sold in Japan and some other markets, was called the Auris Blade.
The Auris and the Shift to Hybrids
The Auris sat at the center of Toyota’s European push into hybrids. Toyota had already found success with the Prius, and it applied the same self-charging hybrid concept to the family hatchback. In the United Kingdom and other markets, the hybrid became a common choice among Auris buyers, and the model helped normalize hybrid power in the compact class long before the tech became mainstream.
The Auris’s Sales Story
Across Europe the Auris reached strong sales in the mid-2010s, with annual figures well over 100,000 units in its best years, a large share of them hybrids. Sales softened as the market shifted toward SUVs and crossovers, which is one of the reasons Toyota consolidated the model into the better-known Corolla badge rather than continuing a separate nameplate.
