Toyota debuted the new GR GT sports car and the next-generation LFA in Japan.
A new era has dawned for Toyota’s high-performance sports cars, as not one, but two models pick up the mantle from the beloved Lexus LFA. To that end, we have a headline debut that’s not under the Lexus brand (we’ll get to that in a moment), but is in fact the Toyota GR GT. And if you wanted a front-engine, rear-wheel drive, two-seater supercar with some serious power and displacement, you shouldn’t be disappointed.
The new top-end of the GR brand is packing a 4.0-liter, twin-turbocharged V8 under that massively long hood. Now, lest you think Toyota is simply sticking with internal combustion here, that’s not the case. It is a hybrid V8, though the result of chucking an electric motor into the mix means you get at least 641 horsepower and 627 lb-ft of torque. Toyota’s spec sheet emphasizes the “or greater” part of those figures, so the final numbers could actually increase by the time this car hits showrooms later next year.
The automaker also pegs the GR GT’s top speed at 199 mph (320 km/h) or greater, with all that grunt going to the back end through an 8-speed automatic transmission sitting on the rear axle.
Toyota says that the GR GT has been “repatedly honed, driven to failure, and repaired” into the proper supercar it purports to be, right down to durability testing the all-aluminum body intertwined with a host of CFRP (carbon fiber-reinforced plastic) components to keep the weight at bay. And considering this is a long, low sports car packing a decently sized V8 and a hybrid system underneath, its 3,858-pound mass isn’t too shabby, by today’s standards, and GR’s engineers distribute that weight 45:55 front-to-rear.
The 2027 Toyota GR GT sits on a double-wishbone front suspension setup with a multilink setup at the rear. As expected for a high-performance, high-dollar model as well, it also packs a set of huge carbon-ceramic brake rotors and six-piston calipers up front, and a set of Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires in a staggered arrangement (265/35-R20 up front, 325/30-R20 in the back).
Looking inside Toyota’s next-gen supercar
At just 47 inches tall, the GR GT is just as low as many of its supercar rivals like the Ferrari 296 GTB or the Lamborghini Temerario. It also sports a similar two-seater layout, with virtually everything in the cabin (apart from a couple USB-C ports) geared toward the driver. There’s a modestly sized infotainment screen in the center and switches down the center stack, but the lion’s share of actual controls are either on the steering wheel or embedded within the digital gauge cluster.
Behind the almost comically long hood, there’s a small windshield, narrow side windows and an equally small rear glass area. So small, in fact, that you get a rearview camera setup in the mirror to help out a little bit with visibility. That doesn’t particularly matter, of course, when the whole idea is to be faster than anyone else out there, anyway.
So…how much will the Toyota GR GT actually cost? If you have to ask…
Naturally, you do want to know how much Toyota’s new supercar will actually set you back. You’d figure there may be a bit of a price break because it’s technically not the new Lexus LFA. The LFA, for its part, is still coming, but it’s not packing a twin-turbo hybrid V8 setup under its hood…because it’s all-electric. So that’s a bit of a different animal.
The 2027 Toyota GR GT, for its part, is the spiritual successor to the old LFA, which went out of production back in 2012, only seeing about a 500-unit production run. Even back then, the LFA was eye-wateringly expensive, and that’s one trait it will likely pass down to the next generation unchanged. The GR GT will sell through certain Lexus dealers later next year (probably a good move, since it may look a little silly to have one in the same space as a Corolla…even a GR Corolla), but we have no idea how much it will cost, strictly speaking.
That said, you should absolutely, unequivocally expect this car to land well into the six-figure price brackets. Remember the Ferrari 296 and Lambo’s Temerario I mentioned? Yeah, those cost a cool $350,000 or more, so expect the Toyota GR GT to be in the same ball park. It’s not like a so-called “mainstream” brand selling something in that price bracket is unprecedented either, now that we have the Ford Mustang GTD. It’ll probably cost about the same as Ford’s moonshot Mustang.
As the classic salesman spiel goes: “But wait, there’s more!”
If you think it’s a little crazy for Toyota to pitch a several-hundred-thousand-dollar sports car strictly as a road-going model, you’re right on the money, as it were. To that end, Toyota didn’t just bring a road car to the table: It has a new FIA GT3-spec racer, too.
This car will effectively replace the outgoing Lexus RC F in the class, and sport the same V8 engine, dry-sump lubrication system and rear-wheel drive as its counterpart. GT3 regulations prohibit the electric motor, though, so this racer will run on internal combustion alone. It still has the same all-aluminum body and suspension setup, though it does get a host of aerodynamic upgrades (including a huge rear wing, front splitter and modified fenders) and a tire upgrade suited to GT3 racing.
Since the production car isn’t slated to arrive until next year, it’s not likely the Toyota GR GT3 will hit the track much before the 2027 season, either. Nevertheless, it’s still a remarkable debut that paves the way forward for the next era of Toyota’s sports car prowess.
