The Lexus LFA’s spiritual successor could be even closer than anyone realized.
The Japanese luxury marque is set to launch a new V-8-powered supercar as soon as 2026, according to Autocar. The car vehicle is part of parent company Toyota‘s strategy to develop street-legal vehicles based on race cars, as opposed to the other way around.
The new model will be based on the GR GT3 concept (pictured above) that Toyota unveiled in 2022. The automaker’s motorsports division, Gazoo Racing (GR), has been spotted testing what is believed to be a prototype of the vehicle at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium and is aiming to have it ready to compete by 2024, including in that year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. FIA homologation rules require that all GT3 racers must also have a corresponding street-legal version, which means the roadgoing equivalent will likely go on sale sometime before then.
Toyota GR GT3 concept
Toyota
The production version will wear Lexus badging and could called the LFR, according to the British publication. The prototype that Toyota GR has been testing has been heavily camouflaged, but it features a stance and profile similar to that of the GR GT3 concept—only with an even larger rear wing.
We’re likely months, if not longer, from finding out any concrete details about the vehicle, but Autocar reports that it will be powered by a twin-turbo V-8 and relatively lightweight. Current GT3 regulations limit output to between 500 and 600 hp and weight to no more than 2,866 pounds (or 1,300 kg). The road car’s powertrain will also likely feature hybrid assistance, which means power will almost certainly come out on the high end of that range, if not even higher. There’s even a chance it could use the hydrogen-compatible eight-cylinder engine that Toyota has developed in collaboration with Yamaha.
When it does launch, the road car will be positioned against some of the finest sports cars currently on the market, including the new Aston Martin Vantage and the Mercedes-AMG GT. Of course, the biggest question will be whether it can live up to its predecessor, the legendary LFA. Lexus’s first V-10 wasn’t fully appreciated when it launched in 2008, but has come to be regarded as one of the sports cars of the century in the decade-and-a-half since.
