GR GT revealed – Toyota’s new flagship sports car with 650 PS 4.0L twin-turbo hybrid V8, 320 km/h

Toyota’s flagship sports car, the spiritual successor to the Lexus LFA (there’s another car shown today that bears the same name, but it’s not the revival of the V10 legend that everyone was hoping for), has had a long gestation shrouded in mystery. But no more – the company has finally revealed its Le Mans-inspired monster simply called GR GT, with its Gazoo Racing motorsports arm being spun off into a separate brand.

Yup, this car has nary a Toyota badge in sight, just GR badges on the long and low body – with a nose that stretches far ahead of the driver in a clear nod to cars like the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. That sizeable vented bonnet hides a new 4.0 litre twin-turbocharged hybrid V8, which features a “hot-V” turbo configuration and a short stroke and dry sump to lower the centre of gravity.

The engine connected via a carbon fibre torque tube to a rear-mounted eight-speed automatic transmission, an electric motor and a mechanical limited-slip differential. Just like on Mercedes-AMG models, the gearbox uses a wet clutch for stepping off and changing gears, rather than a torque converter.

All together, this powertrain produces “at least” 650 PS and 850 Nm of torque, flinging the GT to a top speed in excess of 320 km/h. The transaxle layout, long-nose design and optimised placement of the hybrid battery, fuel tank and other components have resulted in a weight distribution of 45% front, 55% rear. Suspension is handled by double wishbones all around, with forged aluminium arms and carbon ceramic brakes.

These are bolted onto an all-aluminium space frame – the first for a Toyota – with extensive use of carbon and plastic panels to save weight. Even so, the car won’t exactly be light, although the company is targeting a weight figure of below 1,750 kg. The company says its engineers pounded its Shimoyama proving ground and tracks such as the Fuji Speedway and the Nürburgring to find failure points and strengthen them.

It also claims the GT has been designed primarily for aerodynamics, with the styling being a secondary consideration, akin to a road-homologated race car. It certainly looks that way, as the car is not particularly handsome, being surprisingly boxy and slab-sided – a bit like a Le Mans prototype.

Shaped in part by Toyota’s WEC aero engineers, the exterior features sharp headlights joined by a gloss black bar, forming an X shape in concert with the large air intakes. The latter, together with a slot at the front of the bonnet, feed and cool the hungry engine, while spent hot air is drawn out through twin vents near the windscreen. Meanwhile, the flat fenders direct the airflow around the wheels, meeting with the wheel well turbulence being expelled from the massive vertical vents aft of the front wheels.

There are yet more inlets in the side skirts and the tops of the rear fender, the latter hemming in a tight, almost Mazda RX-7-esque glasshouse. A subtly aggressive ducktail spoiler tops a low rear deck with full-width taillights, massive vents and a dual-channel diffuser that integrates conventional quad round tailpipes. Finishing off the look are 20-inch Y-spoke alloy wheels wrapped in sticky Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres.

Inside, the GT is similarly purposeful, with a flat-bottomed steering wheel, large paddle shifters, a simple horizontal dashboard design and a tall centre console for a cockpit-like feel. As we’re nearing 2026, the car inevitably sports large displays for instrumentation (which features a clear gear indicator and shift lights) and infotainment, although there are thankfully still toggle switches for the air con.

The GT also features an adjustable stability control system, which can be modulated intuitively via a knob on the steering wheel, with the other dial being for the drive modes. The gear selector toggle is framed by minor function buttons that, in typical Toyota fashion, includes a surprising amount of blanks, even on this top-dog, specially-built sports car.

Want one? You’ll have to wait quite a while for the GR GT to enter production, with a launch only slated sometime in 2027. It will debut alongside the GR GT3 race car which should, among other racing activities, spearhead Toyota’s GT racing efforts in the WEC. The GT will also spawn a new Lexus LFA, but purists better look away, because that car is now – shock, horror! – a pure electric model.

GALLERY: GR GT

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