New Toyota GR GT will be the polar opposite of a Prius

Toyota is only days away from revealing its new V8-powered supercar. Picking up the mantle from the 2000GT and Lexus LFA, this new halo model isn’t just destined for the open road, but the race track too, with a GT3 racer having been co-developed alongside it. With its debut due on December 4, here’s what we know so far. 

In the latest teaser, the new supercar – potentially called the Toyota GR GT – shows off its long bonnet, short tail and muscular stance. This builds on what we’ve learned from prototypes seen at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, and confirms that it’ll be a striking, aggressively proportioned car which has more in common with a Mercedes-AMG SLS Gullwing than anything with a Toyota badge fixed to the nose. 

The new teaser video joins an official image of the car that appeared around last month’s Japan Mobility Show in Tokyo, showing one side of the front end. It revealed a slim LED headlight and a large lower intake. In addition to this single image, there’s also a wider shot of the same car on trackside signage at Fuji raceway. 

This reveals a GR, or Gazoo Racing, badge mounted on the lower grille, confirming that the new supercar, regardless of whether it’ll be badged a Toyota or Lexus, has come from Toyota’s motorsport arm. 

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Technical details

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There has been almost no technical information released about the new supercar, despite the public appearances, but there is lots we can gather. Following the car’s rumble up the hill at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Toyota revealed some audio of the engine sound as part of the build-up to the Japan Mobility Show. 

This undoubtedly confirms the supercar will feature a V8 engine, probably turbocharged and possibly even hybrid assisted in the case of the road car version. 

Power and torque outputs are purely speculative at this stage, but given that road-going rivals are now comfortably into the 700bhp arena, we suspect the Toyota won’t be far behind. 

We have also learned a lot from the car’s proportions. They suggest that the engine sits in front of the driver, but behind the front axle, creating a front-mid-engined layout as seen in the previous-generation Mercedes-AMG GT. 

It’s impossible to tell from the prototypes, but it’s also likely that drive from the engine will be sent through a transaxle incorporating a limited-slip differential and quick-shifting automatic transmission. We don’t yet know whether that gearbox will be a traditional automatic, a dual-clutch or even some other form of self-shifter.

The car’s construction is also rumoured to be of carbon fibre, which should keep the weight down and increase structural rigidity. A similar choice was made for the iconic Lexus LFA, which pioneered the technology for the Toyota group back in 2011. 

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Toyota’s decision to build a road-going supercar isn’t just for on-road bragging rights, though, as it also plans to enter the GT3 class with a racing version that’s been co-developed alongside the road car programme. The road-going car will homologate the racing car, in much the same way as the GR Yaris did for Toyota’s World Rally Championships entrant.

GT3 is a racing class where the most important sports and supercar brands do battle, from Ferrari and Porsche to McLaren, BMW, Lamborghini and Aston Martin.

Will it get Toyota or Lexus badging?

It’s only now that we can be almost certain that it’ll carry the Toyota name, as Lexus is focusing on its electric models, including a potential sports car based on its Sport Concept that was shown off at Monterey Car Week in California in August, and then again at the Japan Mobility Show. This also effectively confirms that Gazoo Racing will be the named team running in the WEC GT3 championship.

The good news is that we won’t have to wait long for either the road car or race car to be shown in full. 

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