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Toyota GR GT3 Concept: a long, lean racer with road aspirations

Toyota and Lexus trundled into the 2022 Tokyo Auto Salon with a bundle of modded gear. There are two especially racy bits — one, the GRMN Yaris we've already covered, and this, the Gazoo Racing GT3 Concept that is philosophically, if not aesthetically, related to the Yaris. Toyota believes it can provide more enjoyment for customers by commercializing race cars than by making customer cars racy. So instead of turning one of its road cars into a GT3-class competitor (Toyota does sell a Supra GT4), the GT3 Concept could be a customer potential race car that, as required by GT3 homologation rules, would become a road car.   Toyota Gazoo Racing President Koji Sato said the competition division will make a prototype GR GT3 at some point this year. That doesn't mean the exercise will go beyond this one-off, but Gazoo did also say, "TGR intends to use feedback and technologies refined through participation in various motorsports activities to develop both GT3 and mass-production cars and further promote making ever-better motorsports-bred cars," so its seems we will feel the effects of this somewhere. Based on the form factor of long, low hood and truncated, sloping rear, we could draw a line from the GR GT3 Concept to the Lexus Electrified Sport concept the luxury arm showed in December. Inspired by the LFA, that road car concept was claimed to hit 60 mph in the low 2-second range and be able to run about 435 miles on a charge. But we think it makes a lot more sense to draw a line from the GR GT3 Concept to Mazda's RX Vision GT3 concept from March 2020. We're not accusing GR of copying, but Toyota and Mazda are tight, and these two concepts could be confused for different skins on the same chassis in a video game. We'd be happy to see both make it to GT3 competition as it means there'd be street-legal versions, and frankly, this is probably a better path from circuit to street than the LMDh endurance racing hypercar that Gazoo Racing has toyed with turning into a street-going customer option. Elsewhere on the carmaker's Tokyo Auto Show stand, there was a racy on-road concept from Toyota and two off-road focused concepts from Lexus. The Toyota bZ4X GR Sport Concept turns the battery-electric crossover into a Friday L.A. nightclub hopper with a matte black exterior on big wheels in low-profile tires, and sport seats inside.

Lexus: No plans for LFA replacement anytime soon

Supercars are fantastic in terms of their raw performance, sound and ability to inspire interest in an automaker. They aren't so good at actually making money, even for giant, global automakers like Toyota. And if you are holding out hope that Lexus might be fibbing about there being no plans for an LFA successor, we have some bad news. "I think you will see us do some incredible things in the future, but probably not a $375,000 supercar anytime soon," Lexus Executive Vice President Mark Templin told Automotive News. The issue comes down to the LFA's cost to develop and massive price. Lexus built just 500 of the V10 supercars from 2010 through 2012. Templin said that the plan was originally for a much more modest vehicle with a steel body. However, that intention changed to plans for an aluminum exterior and eventually evolved further to carbon fiber during the course of its engineering. Templin is clear that Lexus isn't giving up on more accessible performance with its F sub-brand models, but more supercars aren't coming, at least not anytime soon. He previously suggested that the LFA was a generational model with a 30-year wait for the next one. These days, the workshop that built the LFA has been converted for a much less powerful but perhaps more important vehicle. Toyota now uses it to build the Mirai with the company's hydrogen fuel cell powertrain. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2012 Lexus LFA: Review View 30 Photos News Source: Automotive News - sub. req.Image Credit: Copyright 2015 Drew Phillips / AOL Plants/Manufacturing Lexus Toyota Coupe Performance Supercars supercar lexus lfa

Lexus lets enthusiasts build their own LFA to celebrate model's 10th birthday

Lexus launched production of the LFA, a limited-edition supercar still venerated in 2020, in December 2010. While fans would undoubtedly love to see a second-generation model to mark the occasion, the Japanese firm is celebrating 10 years of LFA production by releasing a paper model that enthusiasts can print and build at home. 500 units of the life-sized LFA were made by hand in Japan between 2010 and 2012. The paper model will be hand-made, too, but builders need to arm themselves with scissors and glue instead of wrenches, and production isn't limited. Anyone can print out the templates (which are included in our gallery) and put the car together. Lexus released four templates: one is blue, one is orange, one is white and one wears the colors of the Gazoo Racing team. Building each car is fairly straight-forward, and basic instructions are shown in our gallery. Lexus estimates assembly takes about an hour and a half, and it suggests folding the paper against a ruler to create a perfectly straight edge. It also notes builders should print out each template on A3 paper to make a bigger car. Full building instructions are published on the Lexus United Kingdom media site. Folks who make their own LFA at home are encouraged to share their creation by tagging the brand on its social media channels. We'll award bonus points to anyone that manages to make a paper version of the naturally-aspirated 4.8-liter V10 engine. As for a second-generation model, our advice is not to hold your breath. Lexus is focusing on other projects, like developing electric powertrains, and it doesn't sound like a follow-up to the LFA is high on the company's list of priorities. It hasn't been ruled out, however. "I love it, but we need your help. We need strong requests for a new LFA from the media. This can help us proceed," vice president Koji Sato told British magazine Autocar in 2019. Related Video: