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Carrying On RWD in the Shadow of the Switch to FWD
Some time after the fourth-generation Corolla came out, chief engineer Agetsuma ordered staff member Takayasu Honda to work exclusively on developing the next Corolla as a front-wheel-drive car. With the model change, the lineup became "two-track," with the sedan front-wheel drive and the Levin and Trueno rear-wheel drive, and the Trueno set itself apart from the Levin with retractable headlights. The fifth-generation front-wheel-drive Corolla was epoch-making, but some aspects, such as reconciling it with cost, remained unresolved. Honda finds it interesting that amid all this, the 86 Levin/Trueno, which carried on rear-wheel drive, was highly praised, and says it is fascinating to see the difference between a sedan built universally for a broad range of people and a specialty car built for a limited number of car enthusiasts.
