Toyota has finally revealed its new flagship V8 supercar – due on sale in around two years as a storming, 641bhp rival to the Mercedes-AMG GT and Aston Martin Vantage.
The GR GT – named for Toyota's Gazoo Racing performance division – is described as having been conceived as a "road-legal race car". Indeed, the road-going and GT3-spec racing versions have been revealed simultaneously, reflecting the fact that they were engineered completely in parallel.
The main focus, says Toyota, was to "endow the car with a high level of dynamic performance but also to achieve a sense of car-driver unity". To that end, company chairman and 'Master Driver' Akio Toyoda worked closely with the car's developers, with assistance from some of Japan's most accomplished racers.
Together with the related but pure-electric Lexus LFA, the new Toyota supercars form what the company calls a 'trinity' of high-performance flagships aimed at emphasising its engineering prowess and technical capabilities – honed on the race track.
Another priority during development was to pass on "the secret sauce of car making" to the next generation of Toyota engineers, so people who worked on the original LFA programme were actively involved in the conception of the new supercars.
Japan's answer to the Mercedes-AMG GT uses a new 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 as part of a hybrid drivetrain that pumps a targeted 641bhp and 627lb ft to the rear wheels through a carbonfibre-reinforced torque tube – though the company says development is still ongoing and the final figures could be higher.
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