Lexus is working on both electric and ICE supercars

Lexus is planning to build a V8 supercar with up to 450kW. The Vantage rival will likely be called LFR and is expected to weigh in at 1300kg. It’s also hedging its bets, developing a similar car that’s all electric.

Lexus is set to launch a successor to the LFT. It will go up against the Mercedes-AMG GT and Aston Martin Vantage. The prototype kicked off as Toyota’s GT3 GR concept car of 2022. The Gazoo Racing motorsport division should have the race car ready for the Le Mans 24 Hours race in 2026.

Any GT3 racer must share its basic body design with a related road car so a road-legal variant of the GT3 GR should launch within the next two years.

Toyota prefers to commercialise motorsport cars rather than the other way around. Hence, the GR Yaris, initially a rally car. However, the road-legal GT3 GR is more likely to be a Lexus than a Toyota. 

Testing in Europe suggests the race car will use a twin-turbo V8. The road car will possibly run a hybrid version of the powertrain. 

Toyota recently announced that it wants to improve the packaging of the internal combustion engine. It says ICE power will have a role to play in future as electrification continues apace. In this regard, it is sports cars that will be the beneficiaries. Toyota is continuing research into sustainable fuel development and with Yamaha is developing a hydrogen-compatible 5.0-litre V8. This could end up in the new LFR.

In part this accords with comments from Gazoo Racing boss, Masahito Watanabe, who told Autocar UK recently that Toyota is pursuing a “multi-pathway” approach to sports cars. He said “We still think the internal combustion engine has some potential.

“There’s still hydrogen combustion that can be a part of that zero-emission line-up.”

Lexus meantime has been working on the Electrified Sport concept that it revealed in 2021, emphasising its continued commitment to performance cars.

That electric concept which is due out before 2030 shares its carbonfibre monocoque with Toyota’s GR GT3 concept, and its cab-rearward silhouette. So Lexus may be able to offer a supersports car with both ICE and electric powertrains in the near future.