The Toyota Carina was initially a Japanese compact car, launched in 1970. It finished production in 2000 as a mid-sized four-door sedan sold in the Japanese market. At that point it was replaced by the Toyota Allion.
The Carina name has been used abroad at various times to represent other cars, usually the Toyota Corona. However, the Japanese-market Carina was a different car.
The first-generation Carina was launched in 1970 as a four-door companion to the Toyota Celica. Over time it became a sister car to the Toyota Corona, but while based on the same underpinnings, it was usually smaller, sportier, with body work and interior completely separate from the Coronas. This pattern would continue all the way until today - The Carina's position relative to the Corona is identical to the Allion's position relative to the Premio, which replaced the Corona.
In 1985 the Carina name was expanded upon, as Toyota introduced a new car, the Toyota Carina ED. As the original Carina became more conservative, the ED is positioned as the new 4-door Celica, just as the Carina was in 1970. The ED's design attempted to capture the hardtop look and proportion of large American sedans. Transposed onto a smaller Japanese platform, this proportion led to a small, low cabin in context of longer front and rear ends. Like classic American hardtops, the ED's B-pillar literally stood up in the middle with no purpose other than to hinge the rear door on; it was not attached to the roof side of the cabin. The ED was a massive hit in Japan for Toyota, spawning a string of competitors like the Mazda Persona, Nissan Presea, and Mitsubishi Emeraude.
At the ED's redesign in 1989 a sister car was introduced as the Corona Exiv. In 1992 Toyota would repeat the product planning on a Corolla-based hardtop, the Sprinter Marino and Corolla Ceres. In 1993 the ED/Exiv were redesigned alongside the Celica, and that was the last iteration of the nameplates.
Confusingly, in 1984 in Europe, the Carina was replaced by the Corona but rebadged as the "Carina II". This continued with the new model introduced in 1988, and subsequently the "Carina E" introduced in 1992 was also a Corona, along with the "Avensis" which replaced this in 1997. And even more confusingly, in 2003, this was replaced by a car known also in Japan as the Avensis.
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