The initial car, the KE1x series used a wheelbase. The transmission was by a four-speed floor shift
manual transmission or a two-speed floor or column shift
automatic transmission, with
rear wheel drive. In Japan at the time, floor-shift transmissions were considered only suitable for trucks while four speeds implied that the engine did not have enough torque to drive through only three gears (more torque allows each gear to have a wider spread of engine revolutions, thus requiring fewer gears). This was a big risk for Toyota but the effectiveness of the new system gained in popularity. The suspension in front was
MacPherson struts supported by a transverse leaf spring beneath the engine cross-member, with
leaf springs connected to a
solid axle in back. The engine was originally meant to be for the under 1000 cc tax class but was changed late in the design process to be 1077 cc in order to beat the forthcoming Datsun 1000. In Japan, this put it into a
1000cc engine road tax class but gave it some prestige over the Datsun 1000 - helped by its "100 cc advantage" advertising campaign. The K-B engine was not available with a column shift. In early April the "Corolla Sprinter" coupé, using the SL's more powerful engine, was introduced. In August 1968
Thai Hino Industry began assembling the Corolla locally; this was the first Corolla to be produced outside of Japan. In October 1968 a four-door version of the well-equipped SL version was added to the lineup. In August 1969 the engine was upgraded to 1166 cc. A special twin carburettor 3K-B (1166 cc) engines was again used in the SL and Sprinter models. ==Japan==