Toyota will officially unveil its long-awaited, V8-powered successor to the Lexus LFA supercar In December.
The supercar had been tipped for a debut at the Tokyo show, following a long preview campaign featuring several iterations of the concept car (one at Pebble Beach) and even a pair of running prototypes at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
But a countdown on the firm’s website suggests the wraps will finally come off on 5 December.
The Aston Martin DB12 rival – now officially called GR GT – will then make its first public appearance at the Tokyo Auto Salon in January
The GR GT is expected to be a homologated variant of the incoming GT3 GR hardcore racer – itself revealed in concept form in 2022. Both took to the hillclimb at Goodwood’s Festival of Speed in July.
The production version of the road-going GT3 GR (previewed below by Autocar) is likely to hit showrooms at the end of 2026 and will be created because FIA homologation rules dictate that any GT3 racer shares its basic body design with a related road car. Aston Martin, BMW, Ferrari, Ford, Lamborghini, Lexus, McLaren, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche all currently sell GT3 customer cars.
Toyota has previously said it will continue “commercialising motorsports cars rather than simply adapting production vehicles for use in motorsports”, as it did with the rally-honed GR Yaris hot hatchback.
Technical details of the GR GT are currently under wraps. But, running up the Goodwood hill, the soundtrack of the GT3 prototype - with a huge rear wing - is unmistakably that of a highly strung V8, but the quieter road car mule suggests it will add some type of hybrid assistance, most likely to meet ever-stringent emission regulations.
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Hydrogen isn't going away is it?, 1300 kg? sounds ambitious ,so, go on then let's have it!
"DB12 rivalling...DB12 rival...vies with the Aston Martin Vantage S..."
Aston Martin is the competitor that Toyota would care about the least.
The outline looks great. I am sure it will be fantastic, but Lexus need an appealing car in the normal price range already. Just have a look at what they currently offer. All SUV, bar one soon to die FWD saloon, and an odd people carrier. Compared to a few years ago with IS, GS, RC, LC and LS, RWD saloons and Coupes, they dont have anything appealing or interesting.
Agreed. I'd happily buy a Lexus, don't want an SUV, but do want practicality. The ES is the only choice, and you can't even fold the rear seats down.