Having previously entered the North American passenger car market in 1957 as Toyopet, the company met little success, withdrawing in 1961.

The company re-entered the North American market in June 1964, rebranded as Toyota, introducing its third-generation Corona with more modern technology and numerous standard features.

The 997 cc (60.8 cu in) OHV P series engine replaced the old S in October 1959,[5] and offered substantially more power with 45 PS (33 kW) at 5,000 rpm.

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.

[citation needed] In Australia the Tiara was produced in Port Melbourne, Victoria by Australian Motor Industries (AMI) starting from 1963.

Toyota conducted a public demonstration of the new Corona's performance on the Meishin Expressway, where the new model was tested to 100,000 kilometres (62,137.1 mi),[23] and was able to sustain speeds of 140 km/h (87 mph).

Exports of this Corona proved popular in the US and Europe, with increased engine performance and durability improvements over previous versions.

In production for only 13 months, 2,222 examples of the 1600GT were manufactured in Bellatrix Yellow, Pegasus White, Solar Red, and Thunder Silver metallic – all colours that were also offered on the 2000GT.

Yamaha supplied the alloy head for these high performance normally aspirated engines fitted with twin Mikuni-Solex 40 mm side-draft carburettors and a compression ratio of 9.7:1.

Gearbox was the Porsche-type synchromesh 5-speed P51 coupled to a 4.1 F series limited slip differential, giving a claimed top speed of 200 km/h (125 mph).

January 1977 saw a minor appearance change to both the interior and exterior, with a revised grille and bonnet, new headlight surrounds and a restyled dashboard.

The Corona range received a thorough facelift in August 1980, with new rearwards sloping rectangular headlights which gave it a more modern appearance at the front.

[42] The 2T and 16R were both replaced by the newer 12T-J engine in December 1979, reflecting newly tightened emissions standards for commercial vehicles in Japan.

In North America, the Corona was replaced for the 1983 model year by the similarly sized but front-wheel-drive Camry sedan and five-door hatchback.

[45] Period commenters universally criticized the antiquated Holden powerplant as rough, lacking power, and excessively thirsty.

In spite of its air of sports and luxury, the Corona XX received the 58 kW (79 PS; 78 hp) Starfire engine, albeit here only with a five-speed manual.

Later in the run, Toyota NZ added a locally assembled Liftback version with the 1.8-litre engine and manual or automatic transmission.

Toyota released a limited edition Olympic model in 1984, offering a full digital instrument cluster in either manual or automatic and in both sedan and wagon body variants.

The facelift models received lenses with a single, more subtle, horizontal line intersecting across the centre of the tail lights and a chrome strip at the base.

Facelift CS and CSi wagons received a horizontal strip across the tailgate and additional black plastic mouldings surrounding the license plate.

The special-bodied taxi version was a spinoff of the T140, used specially as taxicabs in Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, Panama and Singapore.

The Corona FF as introduced in January 1983 was only available with a five-door liftback body style, and only with the carburetted 100 PS (74 kW) 1.8-litre 1S-LU inline-four.

Because of Japanese taxation laws, both models got to the maximum 1,700 mm (66.9 in) permitted for a lower tax bracket, and in the 1980s and early 1990s, the cars were the same size.

In November 1989 the Corona underwent a minor facelift, including a redesigned front grille with densely packed vertical bars rather than the earlier four horizontal ones.

The locally assembled cars also received special spring and damper combinations (again developed by racer Chris Amon) as well as some other changes.

Another variant of the Corona Exsior was the LE, which had genuine leather seats, faux dash wood panel, and electronic air purifier/ionizer as standard equipment.

[63] The 3S-GE benefitted from a higher state of tuning, a forged crankshaft, and a variable-length intake manifold system (called ACIS by Toyota).

The top-of-the-line GT-T came with the turbocharged 260 PS (191 kW; 256 hp) 4th generation 3S-GTE engine, and included an all-wheel-drive system similar to the Toyota Celica GT-Four.

[68] Weighing 1,470 kg (3,241 lb), the Caldina GT-T offers similar performance to a Subaru WRX wagon achieving 0–100 km/h in 7 seconds.

The sedan and liftback were mainly sold in Europe as Avensis, while the lower grade model specifically for taxi use was called Corona.