Oh Toyota, quit trying to be sneaky. Honestly, this time we don't even have to dig deep for clues on the forthcoming GR Corolla, though some Photoshop trickery does help. We'll get to that in a moment.

This is the second such teaser we've seen in the last week or so regarding the hotly anticipated hot hatchback, but we still haven't received an official announcement from Toyota regarding its existence. The GR Corolla isn't exactly front and centre in this recent photo shared on Toyota's Instagram account, but it's certainly not invisible, either.

 

On that front, we took some creative liberty with light settings in Photoshop, while zooming in for good measure. Honestly, we were expecting things to remain shadowed, as automakers are hip to such moves from us media types. Imagine our surprise, then, when a GR Corolla prototype came into view with surprising detail. We can't clearly see design tweaks, but the front fascia looks a bit more aggressive. Perhaps more importantly, we can see GR FOUR on the side.

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That stands for all-wheel-drive, which should underpin GR Corolla's body. Rumours say it will connect to the same turbocharged 1.6-litre three-cylinder engine found in the GR Yaris, developing a positively heroic 268 bhp (200 kilowatts). The GR Yaris also sports a six-speed manual transmission, so it's possible the row-your-own fans could have another reason to celebrate. Considering the Corolla already offers a manual, it's not a stretch to expect it in a hotter version.

Toyota's previous GR Corolla teaser spelled out many of these details but was short on visuals. This time around, either someone forgot to obscure the GR Corolla in darkness, or Toyota absolutely meant for us to uncover the details. Hopefully, this means we won't be waiting for nearly a year to see the hot hatch revealed, as a previous report suggested.