Toyota's cheapest Corolla now over $25,000 with discontinuation of price-leading manual: Mazda 3, Hyundai i30 and Honda Civic rival now available exclusively with automatic transmission

Toyota Australia has discontinued the manual version of the Corolla hatchback and sedan, raising the point of entry of both models to $25,395 before on-road costs.

For reference, the manual Corolla Ascent Sport was priced at $23,895, with the decision made to drop the three-pedal car due to low sales volume.

“Toyota Australia can confirm that from June 2021 production for Corolla sedan and July 2021 production for Corolla hatch, these vehicles will be available in auto transmission only (no manual transmission). This is based on demand,” a Toyota Australia spokesperson told CarsGuide.

“This decision was made after carefully reviewing our sales since launch. Our sales indicate that less than three per cent of customers for Corolla sedan and less than five per cent for Corolla hatch have chosen this option to date.”

Read More About Toyota Corolla

Why small cars like the Kia Cerato, Hyundai i30, Volkswagen Golf and others have a future - and its electric The Toyota GR Corolla is coming to change the hot hatch game: Here's when you will see Japan's new 220kW beast Are Corolla, RAV4 and HiLux as affordable as they used to be? Whether Toyota buyers are better or worse off in 2020

This makes the cheapest Toyota Corolla now more expensive than the Ford Focus (from $23,490), Subaru Impreza (from $23,990) and Hyundai i30 (from $23,420), though the latter is fitted with a manual gearbox.

Aside from the removal of the base manual variant, the rest of the Corolla line-up carries over unchanged.

This means the Ascent Sport, SX and ZR grades are fitted with a 125kW/200Nm 2.0-litre petrol engine, while the Ascent Sport Hybrid, SX Hybrid and ZR Hybrid are fitted with a 1.8-litre petrol engine and electric motor for a 90kW combined output.

However, don’t expect this to the be the end of the line for the manual Corolla, as rumours have pointed to the flagship GR hot hatch (and/or wagon) making use of the six-speed manual found in the critically lauded GR Yaris.

The manual gearbox is rumoured to be paired with a 1.6-litre turbo-petrol three-cylinder engine, as found in the GR Yaris, but with an extra 20kW wrung out for a 220kW/370Nm output.

It is expected the GR Corolla will break cover before year’s end and could be offered in local showrooms alongside the spicy GR Yaris, new-generation GR 86 due and GR Supra some time next year.