1991 Toyota Sprinter Carib

The name Corolla is part of Toyota's naming tradition of using the name Crown for their primary models, e.g. the Corona, which is Latin for crown, or the Corolla, which is Latin for small crown and Camry which is an Anglicized pronunciation of the Japanese term "kanmuri" meaning "crown".

Corollas are currently manufactured in Japan, the United States (Fremont, California), the United Kingdom (Derbyshire), Canada (Cambridge, Ontario), Malaysia, China (Tianjin), Taiwan, South Africa, Brazil (Indaiatuba, São Paulo), Turkey, Philippines, Thailand, Venezuela, Pakistan, India and Indonesia.

The Corolla's chassis designation code is "E", as described in Toyota's chassis and engine codes.

Using the Corolla chassis

A slightly upmarket version called the Sprinter was sold in the Japanese home market. It was replaced in 2001 by the Allex, which was then replaced by the Blade in 2006.

There have also been several models over the years, including the Corolla Ceres (and similar Sprinter Marino) hardtop, Corolla Levin and Sprinter Trueno sports coupés and hatchbacks, and the Corolla FX hatchback, which became the Corolla RunX. The RunX was replaced by the Auris in 2006. A compact MPV named the Corolla Verso has also been released in European markets. Its Japanese counterpart is the Corolla Spacio, which has been discontinued as of the 10th generation. The US-market Scion xB is also sold in Japan as the Corolla Rumion.