Photo/Illutration Toyota Motor Corp. Chairman Akio Toyoda speaks about sports cars in front of the in-development GR GT model in Susono, Shizuoka Prefecture, on Dec. 5. (Kohei Kondo)

Toyota Motor Corp. plans to roll out a high-performance sports car that can hit a top speed of 320 kph around 2027, which can compete with rivals such as Ferrari and Porsche in the rarefied supercar segment.

The automaker on Dec. 5 unveiled a prototype of the GR GT, the flagship model of its Gazoo Racing (GR) sports car brand.

The two-seat, rear-wheel-drive GR GT is based on the concept of a road-legal racing car and developed with a focus on an extreme low-center-of-gravity design.

Equipped with a hybrid system that pairs a newly developed 4.0-liter, V8 twin-turbo engine and a single electric motor, the new model is targeting a maximum output of 650 horsepower or more and a top speed of 320 kph or greater.

The prototype is 4,820 millimeters long, 2,000 mm wide and 1,195 mm high with a wheelbase of 2,725 mm.

The sticker price has not been decided.

The GR GT will be positioned as the automaker's flagship in the footsteps of the Toyota 2000GT and the Lexus LFA.

With a limited production of 337 units, the Toyota 2000GT was sold between 1967 and 1970 and appeared in the 1967 James Bond movie, “You Only Live Twice.”

Powered by 4.8-liter V10 engine, 500 units of the Lexus LFA were marketed between 2010 and 2012.

At the world premiere held at the Toyota Woven City experimetal facility in Susono, Shizuoka Prefecture, the automaker also unveiled two other prototype models of the GR GT3 and Lexus LFA Concept.

The GR GT3 is a gasoline-powered vehicle based on the GR GT and is designed to meet the specifications of the Federation Internationale d'Automobile (FIA) GT3, which is the top category of production vehicle-based customer motorsports.

The LFA Concept is an electric sports car currently under development for the luxury brand Lexus.

Related News