It’s rare for an automaker to roll out two cars on the same day. Usually, official premieres are scheduled on separate days so one vehicle doesn’t steal the other’s limelight. But Toyota is throwing the rulebook out the window by unveiling a pair of supercars at the same event. As if that weren’t exciting enough, a third vehicle, restricted to the track, will also be shown. Thankfully, we’re all getting the chance to watch the triple premiere as it unfolds.
Toyota has set up a livestream for the presentation of its “all-new sports models.” It’s going to last half an hour, but there’s a bit of an issue. Since the reveal starts on December 5 at 11 AM Japan time, Europeans will have to get up super early, at 2 AM GMT or 3 AM CET. In the United States, it won’t be much of an effort to watch. The action begins tonight, December 4, at 9 PM Eastern.
So, what should we expect? Toyota’s GR GT and a production version of the Lexus Sports Concept will be joined on stage by a GT3 race car from Gazoo Racing. All three are widely believed to use a newly developed V-8, an engine announced in October at the Japan Mobility Show by Toyota’s powertrain president, Takashi Uehara.
The V-8 belongs to a new family of modular gasoline engines, which will also include a pair of four-cylinders with 1.5- and 2.0-liter displacements. Uehara said the eight-cylinder mill is loosely related to the four-pots but didn’t provide further details. Reports claim it’ll have a twin-turbo setup and may be part of a hybrid powertrain.
Photo by: Toyota
Photo by: Toyota
Photos by: Toyota
We’d venture that it will have far more power than the LFA’s naturally aspirated V-10, the 4.8-liter engine co-developed with Yamaha that made 553 horsepower. Adding a pair of turbos and at least one electric motor should push the combined output well beyond the LFA’s, even with a smaller combustion engine. Some unconfirmed reports speculate as much as 800-900 hp, but it’s better to wait for official numbers.
The design isn’t much of a secret. Toyota first previewed the car in January 2022 at the Tokyo Auto Salon with the GR GT3 concept. Subsequent sightings of camouflaged prototypes gave us a better sense of the coupe’s attractive shape. We even caught a glimpse of the interior earlier this year at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Not that we expected a manual gearbox, but the cabin had a small gear selector for the automatic.
Photo by: Goodwood
The Lexus Sports Concept broke cover this past August and is unlikely to change much for the production version. With only a few months separating the concept from the road-going model, the two should be cut from the same cloth. For example, the teaser released this week suggests the taillight design will be nearly identical.
It’ll be interesting to see what names and badges these cars ultimately get. The Toyota version is expected to go by the “GR GT” moniker but with a twist: it might not carry a Toyota logo, given the company’s recently announced plan to spin off Gazoo Racing into a separate brand.
29
Source: Lexus
As for the Lexus, simply calling it “Sports” would be too generic. Previous reports have suggested it could use the “LFR” nameplate, though that was never confirmed. For a long time, rumors claimed there would be only one car, the Lexus LFR, without a Toyota companion. However, we can now say with certainty that each brand will get its own supercar, plus a race car for Gazoo Racing’s GT3 campaign to replace the aging RC F GT3.
We’d wager that both road cars will easily carry $100,000+ price tags. We recall seeing a GR GT prototype benchmarked against the previous-generation Mercedes-AMG GT, so Toyota is clearly aiming high. For reference, you can’t buy a current-gen AMG GT with a V-8 for less than $139,400, while the hybrid V-8 starts at $203,450. The new Toyota and Lexus models could slot somewhere between those two coupes from Affalterbach.
Following tonight’s debut, we might see both street-legal cars at the 2026 Tokyo Auto Salon next month before they go on sale later in the year.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motor1.com?
Take our 3 minute survey.
– The Motor1.com Team
