TOKYO: Toyota Motor Corp. has given the Corolla, one of the world’s best-selling cars, a major makeover and launched it in Japan on Tuesday in hopes that a sporty silhouette and new interactive functions will draw in younger buyers.
While ubiquitous among first-time drivers and university students in North America, Corolla’s top market that accounts for about a third of its global sales, the model has become known as a car for the elderly at home where the average age of its owners is around 70 — an image Toyota wants to change.
“We’re grateful that our older customers have remained loyal to the Corolla,” said Yoshiki Konishi, chief engineer of the Corolla Sport, the newest model which next goes on sale in North America in the coming months and Europe in 2019.
“But we want the Corolla to resonate more with younger drivers ... we want to target people in their 20s and 30s.”
To spruce up the image of its most iconic model, Toyota has led the Corolla’s rollout with the hatchback Sport version rather than the traditional sedan.
For Japan, the Corolla Sport comes fitted with Toyota’s data communication module which collects driving data to provide cloud-based, real-time navigation and technical support, while also monitoring vehicle health to give maintenance updates.
Corolla and a revamped domestic Crown sedan model, also launched on Tuesday, will be Toyota’s first mass-market cars to offer such advanced technological functions that were previously available exclusively in models from its high-end Lexus brand. Other automakers offer similar functions.
“By adding connected capabilities to a model known for being popular among older drivers, Toyota is trying to attract younger people to the Corolla, and widen its customer base (at home), said Takeshi Miyao, managing director of consultancy Carnorama.
“By doing so, it is betting that the next car trend may not be based on vehicle segment or model, but perhaps on applications, or functions.”
But attracting younger drivers is tough in general in fast-greying Japan, where the number of driving license holders aged under 30 dropped 22 percent in the past decade while for those aged 65 and above it jumped 64 percent, official data shows.
Since its launch in 1966, 46 million Corolla units have been sold across more than 150 countries.
Toyota declined to give demographic targets for the new model, but Konishi acknowledged the reliability of the Corolla would likely continue to draw in mature drivers.
“I’m in my 50s, and I’m planning to buy one.”
Toyota gives aging Corolla a sporty makeover to draw young drivers
Toyota gives aging Corolla a sporty makeover to draw young drivers
- The model has become known as a car for the elderly at home where the average age of its owners is around 70 — an image Toyota wants to change
- Since its launch in 1966, 46 million Corolla units have been sold across more than 150 countries
Saudi-built AI takes on financial crime
- Mozn’s FOCAL reflects the Kingdom’s growing fintech ambitions
RIYADH: As financial institutions face increasingly complex threats from fraud and money laundering, technology companies are racing to build systems that can keep pace with evolving risks.
One such effort is FOCAL, an AI-powered compliance and fraud prevention platform developed by Riyadh-based enterprise artificial intelligence company Mozn.
Founded in 2017, Mozn was established with a focus on building AI technology tailored to regional market needs and regulatory environments. Over time, the company has expanded its reach beyond Saudi Arabia, developing advanced AI solutions used by financial institutions in multiple markets. It has also gained international recognition, including being listed among the World’s Top 250 Fintech Companies for the second consecutive year.
In January 2026, Mozn’s flagship product, FOCAL, was named a Category Leader in Chartis Research’s RiskTech Quadrant 2025 for both AML Transaction Monitoring and KYC (Know Your Customer) Data and Solutions, placing it among 10 companies globally to receive this designation.
Malik Alyousef, co-founder of Mozn and chief technology officer of FOCAL, told Arab News that the platform initially focused on core anti-money laundering functions when development began in 2018. These included customer screening, watchlists, and transaction monitoring to support counter-terrorism financing efforts and the detection of suspicious activity.
As financial crime tactics evolved, the platform expanded into fraud prevention. According to Alyousef, this shift introduced a more proactive model, beginning with device risk analysis and later incorporating tools such as device fingerprinting, behavioral biometrics, and transaction fraud detection.
More recently, FOCAL has moved toward platform convergence through its Financial Crime Intelligence layer, a vendor-neutral framework designed to bring together multiple systems into a single interface for investigation and reporting. The approach allows institutions to gain a consolidated view without replacing their existing technology infrastructure.
“Our architecture eliminates blind spots in financial crime detection. It gives institutions a complete view of the user journey, combining transactional and non-transactional behavioral data,” Alyousef said.
DID YOU KNOW?
• Some electronic money institutions using the platform have reported fraud reductions of up to 90 percent.
• The platform combines anti-money laundering and fraud prevention into a single financial crime intelligence system.
• FOCAL integrates with existing banking systems without requiring institutions to replace their technology stack.
Beyond its underlying architecture, Alyousef pointed to several areas where FOCAL aims to differentiate itself in a competitive market. One is its emphasis on proactive fraud prevention, which assesses risk throughout the customer lifecycle — from onboarding and login behavior to ongoing account activity — with the goal of stopping fraud before losses occur.
He described the platform as an “expert-led model,” highlighting the availability of on-the-ground support for system design, tuning, assessments, and continuous optimization throughout its use.
“FOCAL is designed to be extended,” Alyousef added, noting its adaptability and the ability for clients to customize schemas, rules, and data fields to match their business models and risk tolerance. This flexibility, he said, allows institutions to respond more quickly to emerging fraud patterns.
Alyousef also emphasized the importance of local context in the platform’s development.
“The platform incorporates regional regulatory requirements and language considerations. Global tools often struggle with local context, naming conventions and compliance nuances — we are designed specifically with these realities in mind,” he said.
FOCAL is currently used by a range of organizations, including traditional banks, digital banks, fintech firms, electronic money institutions, payment companies, and other financial service providers. Alyousef said results from live deployments have been significant, with some large EMI clients reporting fraud reductions of up to 90 percent.
“Clients benefit not only from reduced fraud losses but also from an improved customer experience, as the system minimizes unnecessary friction and false rejections,” he said. “Beyond financial services, we also work with organizations in e-commerce and telecommunications.”
Looking ahead, Alyousef said the company sees agentic AI as a key direction for the future of financial crime prevention, both in the region and globally. Mozn, he added, is investing heavily in this area to enhance investigative workflows and operational efficiency, building on the capabilities of its Financial Crime Intelligence layer.
“We are pioneers in introducing agentic AI for financial crime investigation and rule-building. Our roadmap increasingly emphasizes automation, advanced machine learning and AI-assisted workflows to improve investigator productivity and reduce false positives.”
As AI tools become more widely available, Alyousef warned that the risk of misuse by criminals is also increasing, raising the bar for defensive technologies.
“Our goal is to stay ahead of that curve and to contribute meaningfully to positioning Saudi Arabia and the region as globally competitive leaders in AI,” he said.
