Aside from North America, the GR Corolla is also sold in Japan, Thailand,[2] Malaysia,[3] Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, South Africa, and Indonesia.

[citation needed] The decision led to years of speculation that Toyota would eventually bring a hot hatch to the United States and Canada.

The introduction of the vehicle was delayed by a year, because Akio Toyoda, then CEO of Toyota, also a racing driver, was not satisfied with the tuning of a prototype, and asked the GR team to make changes.

[12] The Circuit Edition is a higher grade of the GR Corolla which offers performance upgrades such as Torsen limited-slip differentials for the front and rear axles (optional for the Core trim level).

It also offers a forged carbon fiber roof, hood bulge with functional vents, a larger rear spoiler, and other upgrades.

[13][14] For the Japanese market, beside the Morizo Edition, the regular GR Corolla is only available as the fully-equipped RZ trim level.

The Australian GR Corolla GTS is the equivalent of Japanese RZ or North American Circuit Edition.

To improve handling, the suspension was re-tuned with monotube shock absorbers, 10 mm (0.4 in) wider tires on lighter rims were used, and body rigidity was increased with 349 additional spot welds, over an additional 6 m (19.7 ft) of structural adhesive, and body reinforcement braces.

The GR 8-speed Direct Automatic Transmission (DAT) option became available including Formula One-style paddle-shifters for semi-automatic mode.

With hood bulge and vents, forged carbon roof, the US market Premium Plus is the successor of the Circuit Edition.