Toyota Just Teased the Successor to Japan’s Most Important Car of the Decade

Get your browsers ready. Toyota is just days away from revealing what may arguably be its most important car of the decade: the GR GT and its Lexus variant.

The Big T has been known to be working on a bespoke, high-end sports car. But not just any sports car.

Many are anticipating it to be the direct successor to the iconic Lexus LFA. More so, the high-performance halo car will also come in a Toyota GR variant, meaning you won’t have to shell out an arm, a leg, and one and a half kidneys to get one.

Okay, maybe just an arm and a leg…

Gazoo Racing’s ultimate halo moment, years in the making

Toyota Gazoo Racing

Rumors began swirling quite some time ago about a successor to the LFA when spy photographers caught a Lexus LC-based prototype running around the Nürburgring Nordschleife. But it was in 2022 at the Tokyo Auto Salon when the world realized those rumors weren’t just hearsay.

Then, Toyota revealed the GR GT3 Concept, confirming the automaker’s supercar ambitions. At first, many dismissed the concept as another racecar dedicated to the automaker’s motorsports programs.

Lexus

But as time marched on, the rumors of a road-going production version turned out to be true, with Toyota and its performance and motorsports division, Gazoo Racing, eventually confirming the project.

And just a few months ago, the automaker began releasing even more teasers, first with a camouflaged prototype at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July, and more recently, during the Tokyo Motor Show.

Toyota

Lexus also joined the concept part with the Sports Concept during Monterey Car Week this year, specifically at The Quail.

Now, the latest updates indicate that the roadgoing sports car will debut alongside the motorsports version. But most of all, it’ll be called the GR GT.

Just don’t call it a Toyota

Toyota

To keep enthusiasts at the tip of their seats, Toyota released another teaser, previewing three cars that will debut this Friday. In the same breathe, that’s when Toyota also supposedly hinted that it won’t be badged with its insignia.

Rather, the supercar will sport only GR badges, which explains why it’s being simply called the GR GT. GR obviously stands for Gazoo Racing.

Toyota

Some speculated that Toyota could be branching off its GR into its own sub-brand. But nothing’s amounted to substantiate that specific rumor.

According to Japan’s BestCar, however, the word on the street about the sports car utilizing a newly-developed twin-turbocharged V8 is apparently holding true.

Toyota

However, the Lexus version is reportedly the version that will get the V8. In the same report, BestCar also supposedly heard the GR version will get Toyota’s latest ultra-high-performance 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder.

Despite the different engines, both will feature electric propulsion assist. On other words, rumors suggest both will be gas-electric hybrids with plug-in capabilities.

Toyota

Either way, we won’t know until Toyota reveals the actual cars on Friday. Stay tuned.

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