WORLD NEWS

SANTA MONICA, Calif., -- Toyota unveiled a new design Thursday night for the 2014 model of its popular Corolla sedan during a zen-like introduction in an aircraft hangar here. The new model goes on sale in September, pricing to be announced.

The sedan, sold worldwide and a perennial top 10 seller in U.S., is bigger and got a new slick front-end design with a huge mouth (not unlike Toyota's redone Avalon), sharp creases and flared wheel wells.

Corolla's wheelbase grows by four inches, with most of the extra space going to enhance leg room in the rear seat -- even as the overhangs beyond the wheels are shorter and sportier-looking.

In a segment where fuel efficiency is a top consideration, Corolla will offer two thrifty four-cylinder engines and will switch to a thrifty continuously variable ratio transmission, or CVT, though Toyota says it software will let it mimic the shift points of a seven-speed regular automatic transmission. The low-end L and sportier S models will offer a 6-speed stick.

Toyota also is creating a special high-mileage version of Corolla, called Eco, that is expected to be rated at least 40 miles per gallon on the highway. No hybrid model was announced.

But the biggest news is its look. Corolla is the nation's best-selling compact car and fifth most-popular car overall through May this year. But it was the oldest -- even dowdiest design in the increasingly competitive compact segment. And company head Akio Toyoda has said he wants his cars to be more stylish and more fun as they are redone.

Meanwhile, Corolla competition in compacts is full of redesigned cars -- like archrival Honda Civic, Ford Focus and Hyundai Elantra -- that eroding Toyota's historical edge in reliability and economy and doing it in flashier, fancier fashion.

To help make the point that this is the new Toyota and a new, more stylish, more fun Corolla, the global reveal for it in Santa Monica was the kind of extravaganza usually reserved for luxury cars. Their aerilists performing on ropes over your head, dancers that appeared to run on fabric on the side of the hanger and a swimming pool that descended from the ceiling in which women slip-slided across the transparent plastic floor. A celebrity Top Chef provided the fancy food and fog-inducing nitrogen cocktails.