The executive sedan segment may account for a miniscule portion of sales in the Indian car market but, even so, Toyota has managed to find reasonable success with its Corolla Altis. The Corolla is currently the bestselling of the executive sedans and, in 2015-16, it outsold its closest competitor in sales, Skoda’s Octavia, 2.5 times to 1. Of course, you can credit much of the success to Indian buyers’ trust in the Corolla brand. However, the current-gen car that was launched in India in 2014, has also been drawing buyers for its youthful design. Toyota will further up the ante with the mid-life facelift that is headed to India in 2017.

Revealed only in pictures earlier this year, the updated Corolla was shown in the metal recently in Russia, which is one of the 150 countries Toyota’s global model is sold in. As is very clear, Toyota has gone for an even bolder look on the facelift. Frontal styling is noticeably different from the current car with a narrower grille and wider, more spread-out headlamps. Look closely and you’ll also notice a subtle kink at the base of the headlights. While the car pictured here features brilliantly detailed full-LED headlights, it’s unlikely these will make it to India. We are more likely to get the conventional xenon light and daytime-running LED arrangement. Making an equally large difference to the Corolla’s appearance is the completely redone front bumper that is not only more angular but also features a larger central air dam and neat new cut-outs for the fog lamps.

Toyota hasn’t tinkered with the Corolla’s basic shape so the profile remains neat with good proportions. Styling tweaks to the rear aren’t all that comprehensive either but the chrome lip above the number plate mount is slimmer than before and the smoked effect to the now full-LED tail-lamps is quite well done too.