The conservative motorists of middle Ireland will be raising more than a mug of grey tea to Toyota after it launched the latest version of its hugely popular Corolla saloon.
While the new Auris, which replaces the Corolla hatchback, will not arrive until February or March 2007, Toyota Ireland has secured models of this the 10th generation Corolla saloon in advance of its international launch to coincide with the peak Irish car-buying season.
For a car that is expected to become Ireland's most popular model next year (combined with the Auris), its arrival here was marked by a low-key launch, as was the saloon's first outing in Europe, which took place at the instantly forgettable Helsinki motor show.
Indeed, there's been little mention of this new saloon because many of Europe's largest markets intended to only sell the Auris hatchback. Since the saloon's reveal however, these European markets have begun reconsidering their stand.
This is because the new Corolla saloon is a huge improvement in terms of interior space and quality as well as exterior design, which has finally made this saloon a visually appealing car - something that could not have been said of the previous 'three-box' models.
Designed in Europe at Toyota's Europe Design Development (ED2) centre, this new saloon has adopted design cues and build quality, especially in the interior, of its larger brother, the Avensis.
This latest Toyota, which is significantly longer and wider than the outgoing model, will only be available with two 1.4-litre engines, the most appealing of which is the 90bhp D4D diesel, which produces 130g of CO2 per km. The petrol 1.4 has slightly more power at 97bhp, although much less torque (130 compared to 190Nm) and far more emissions at 158g/km. With penalties for cars producing higher than average CO2 emissions coming into force from 2008, the attractiveness of small capacity diesels such as Toyota's D4D is set to increase.
Both engines are coupled to a five-speed manual transmission, although when production of this Japanese-built Corolla eventually switches to Turkey an automatic transmission will be offered.
Safety is high on Toyota's agenda and again the Corolla adopts features from the larger Avensis including knee and curtain as well as front and side airbags as standard - a first in the compact family saloon sector.
Pricing is highly competitive. The base petrol model starts at €20,750, €25 more than the base 1.4-litre Focus saloon, while the base diesel Corolla starts at €23,420, €80 cheaper than the base 1.6-litre diesel Focus saloon.
With the highest customer retention rates of any mainstream manufacturer, Toyota is certain to sell the 4,000-plus Corolla saloon models it has allocated for 2007. While we have to wait until the new year to judge whether this saloon drives as well as it looks, it is already clear that it will be more than just Toyota's traditional saloon buyers who will be tempted by this latest Corolla.
With Toyota already selling Ireland's most popular models in four segments it looks like 2007 will be the fourth year in succession that the Japanese manufacturer will be named Ireland's favourite carmaker.