Toyota’s next small engine is a 1.5-litre four, and the turbo version is built to cover the power range of today’s 2.5-litre A25. Compared with that 2.5, it takes up 20% less space and stands 15% lower.
Toyota showed the engine and its next hybrid system at Toyota Motor Europe’s technical centre in Brussels. Car Watch reported the engine details on 19 October 2026, and Best Car says the hybrid version goes into the next Corolla.
Quick facts
- A new 1.5-litre engine with four cylinders. Toyota has not given it an official name yet, and Japanese media call it the N15, as the successor to today’s M15
- Planned versions are naturally aspirated, hybrid, plug-in hybrid and turbo (Best Car)
- The turbo version covers the power range of the 2.5-litre A25, with 20% less volume and 15% less height than that engine
- The naturally aspirated version for hybrids has 10% less volume and 10% less height, according to Car Watch
- It works with Toyota’s sixth-generation hybrid system, which uses silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductors
- Best Car reports a fuel economy gain of more than 12% for the new Corolla’s 1.5 hybrid, and 15% for a seventh-generation system that is still in development
- No power figures, prices or launch dates yet
A fourth cylinder for a lower nose
Toyota’s current 1.5, the M15, is a three-cylinder. The new engine adds a fourth cylinder. Car Watch explains that more cylinders allow a shorter stroke, and a shorter stroke makes the whole engine lower.
A lower engine lets designers drop the bonnet line, which gives them more freedom with the shape of the car. Look at the Corolla Concept in our gallery. The nose sits very low for a car that will still carry a petrol engine under it.
Toyota also wants one shared platform that can take either an electric or a hybrid drivetrain. A small, low engine makes that much easier to package.
The turbo version is the one to watch
The A25 is the big 2.5-litre four that Toyota uses in models such as the Camry and RAV4. A 1.5 turbo that covers the same power range in a smaller and lower block would free up a lot of room in the engine bay.
Be careful with the headline number, though. Toyota has not given any horsepower or torque figure for the new turbo engine. For now, “2.5-litre power” means the range of the current A25, not a fixed figure on a spec sheet.
The naturally aspirated version goes into hybrids. Best Car says the new 1.5 hybrid in the next Corolla feels just as good under acceleration and is just as quiet as the current 1.8-litre hybrid, while using less fuel.
A 2024 promise, now with a car attached
The engine itself was not a surprise. Akio Toyoda first said it was coming at Tokyo Auto Salon 2024, and Toyota gave details at its multi-pathway workshop with Subaru and Mazda in May 2024.
Toyota is also working on a bigger engine, the 2.0-litre turbo G20E. Car Watch notes that it is still in development and that it already runs in Super Taikyu in the GR Yaris M Concept. Photo 5 in our gallery shows the G20E at Osaka Auto Messe 2025.
What changed in Brussels is the plan. According to Car Watch, Toyota now plans to bring the new 1.5 and the new hybrid to Europe, and the panel next to the engine showed the Corolla Concept. That car had its world premiere at the Japan Mobility Show in 2025. Best Car expects a fast run of new electrified Toyotas from 2027.
What tuners will ask
The big questions for the JDM crowd have no answers yet. How much boost can the bottom end take, and will the ECU be open to tuning or locked down by emissions rules? The reports from Brussels say nothing about any of that.
The short stroke is interesting on its own. Short-stroke engines usually like to rev, and a compact turbo four is the kind of base that tuners in Japan have built on for decades. If a version of this engine ever lands in a light car with a manual, the aftermarket will be ready.
Our take
This is our opinion. Toyota keeping petrol engines alive, and making them smaller and lower, is good news for anyone who likes cars with a real engine. A 1.5 turbo four with 2.5-litre performance could be a great heart for a small, cheap sports car one day.
The bad side: there are still no horsepower or torque figures, and the size numbers are not new. Toyota first showed them in May 2024. The only car named so far is a Corolla, not a GR model. Until Toyota puts the turbo version in a car you can buy, it is a promise on a display panel.
Your turn
Where would you put Toyota’s new 1.5 turbo four first: a small GR sports car or a hot Corolla? Tell us in the comments.
Sources: Car Watch (Toyota’s new 1.5-litre four and next hybrid for Europe), Best Car (the new Corolla’s 1.5 hybrid).
Photos: RuinDig/Yuki Uchida (CC BY 4.0) and Tokumeigakarinoaoshima (CC0), via Wikimedia Commons. The photos show the Toyota Corolla Concept at the Japan Mobility Show 2025 and Japan Mobility Show Kansai 2025, and the G20E engine at Osaka Auto Messe 2025. They do not show the new 1.5-litre engine.
