Lexus is about to launch a supercar rival the likes of the Aston Martin Vantage and Mercedes-AMG GT, powered by a V8 engine producing as much as 450kW.
Autocar reports it’ll be called the LFR and it’ll be a spiritual successor to the V10 LFA, though this time around it’ll be a road-legal version of a full-blown race automobile and never a standalone supercar model.
We’ve covered Toyota’s GT3 GR concept automobile because it was first revealed in 2022, which has most recently been seen as a prototype testing in camouflage at Belgium’s Spa-Francorchamps circuit. It’s expected to be ready for top-flight European endurance racing in 2026.
The Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), which governs the competition Toyota’s GT3 automobile will participate in, outlines homologation rules that requires any GT3 automobile to share its basic body design with a related road-legal automobile.
As such, it’s almost certain we’ll receive a toned-down (yet still monstrous) version of the Japanese racer inside the following two years.
The road-going automobile will likely wear a Lexus badge to follow after the brand’s premium sports cars, notably the LFA and RC F.
The Toyota GR GT3 sounds unmistakably like a beastly V8 that may very well be benefitting from twin-turbo induction, while it’s been reported Lexus could introduce a hybrid successor to the LFA in the shape of the LFR next yr.
It could potentially use a twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 with between 515kW and 530kW of power, mated with a electric motor to drive total outputs as much as 662kW.
Speculations over the brand new model have been bolstered by Toyota’s joint commitment to internal combustion with Mazda and Subaru, headlined by the event of lower-emissions internal combustion engines that lean on hybrid assistance and using synthetic fuels.
No specifications have been released of any version of this automobile, though GT3 regulations outline power outputs of as much as 450kW and at least 1300kg.
The brand new performance automobile has previously been known as a “catalog model” and never a limited-build model just like the LFA, which implies it could stick around longer and in larger numbers than the 500-example V10 offering.
This Article First Appeared At www.carexpert.com.au
