Exclusively sold in the Japanese domestic market, the Sprinter was aimed to be sportier than its Corolla sibling and also using different sheet metal mostly on the C-pillar.

The Sprinter is notable for being used as the base vehicle for two joint projects between Toyota and General Motors in the United States, known under GM as the S-car.

The car was marketed as a fastback coupé version of the Corolla and sold at Japanese dealership sales channel called Toyota Auto Store.

Like the rest of the E10 Corolla range, the coupe was originally powered by a 1077 cc K engine, producing 60 PS (44 kW; 59 hp).

The sporty SL trim was equipped with more powerful high compression dual carburetors K-B engine, producing 73 PS (54 kW; 72 hp).

In order to sell through the Toyota Auto Store dealer network, the Sprinter was no longer bearing Corolla nameplate, even though the differences were mostly cosmetic.

[10] The coupé range received the 1588 cc, DOHC 2T-G engine in March 1972; this model was known as the Sprinter Trueno, the twin of the Corolla Levin.

A three-door shooting brake style liftback with the coupé's front end was added to the line up in January 1976.

[16] The four-door sedan and the five-door liftback were also manufactured in Fremont, California and sold for the North American market under the resurrected name of Chevrolet Nova, the first of several Toyotas built by General Motors known as their S-platform under license at NUMMI.

Like the older E80 series-based Chevrolet Nova, the E90 series was also used as the basis of North American market Sprinter-based sedan and liftback with slightly different front end called the Geo Prizm.

The E90 sedan and "Cielo" liftback were introduced first in May 1987, with three petrol engine options; carburetted 1.3 L 2E, 1.5 L 5A-F and high performance fuel injected 1.6 L "red & black top" 4A-GE.

The high performance GT trim received new 20-valve 4A-GE "silver top" engine, generating 160 PS (118 kW; 158 hp) at 7,400rpm.

The 20-valve engine was ahead of its time when it was offered during this generation, coming with features like VVT, individual throttle bodies (ITB's), a compression ratio of 10.8:1 and a five-valve-per-cylinder head design.

The facelift occurred for the sedan in May 1993 with the redesign of the front grille, bumper, and rear combination lamps and stayed without further improvement until its discontinuation in May 1995.

The business wagon also received new standard safety pack such as front passenger airbag, ABS and seatbelts with pretensioner and force limiter.

The 1998 safety pack update became standard for commercial van in August 2000 and the 4-speed manual transmission was upgraded to 5-speed unit.

[26] This platform was also produced in the US as the last Sprinter-based Geo Prizm and only available as a sedan, as the liftback body style was discontinued in the North American market.

The eighth and last generation Sprinter was introduced in May 1995 with particular consideration for the environment, increasing safety standard and total production cost due the Lost Decades recession that was happening in Japan at the time.

The rear quarter window on the C-pillars was also revived, ostensibly to impart the Sprinter with a "sporty and youthful image".

Eleven months later, the sedan received its facelift and adopting the GOA (Global Outstanding Assessment) body structure technology.

[20] The Sprinter sedan sales was axed in December 2000 in favor of a twin of the E120 Corolla RunX hatchback called the Allex.

[34] Australian market AE86 liftback was sold as Sprinter, while the rest of the world received the same car as Corolla GT, GT-S or SR-5.