Toyota is going to build a road-going ‘super sports car’. Following on from the company’s historic Le Mans win, alongside news that the WEC’s top prototype class from 2020 will more closely resemble ‘hypercars’ – Toyota has confirmed that development on a production hypercar has begun.
Related: Toyota Wins the 2018 Le Mans 24 Hours!
It will use the technology showcased by the TS050 Le Mans winner. And it will probably look like the GR Super Sport concept, already built. This concept was first unveiled at the beginning of the year, and packs a 2.4-liter twin-turbo V6 petrol engine combined with electric motors, to produce 986bhp.
Toyota Gazoo Racing boss Shigeki Tomoyama says:
“Competing in the WEC and racing at Le Mans helps us to advance the development of our world-leading hybrid electric technology and enables us to transfer the knowledge we gain to our production cars. We started this project because we believe that creating a super sports car that delivers the same appeal as the TS050 Hybrid greatly adds to Toyota’s involvement in the WEC. And at some point in the future, customers will have a chance to get behind the wheel of this incredible machine and experience its astonishing power and driving performance.”
Toyota has been trying for years to shake a reputation for building boring cars, and a racing-inspired hybrid hypercar would seem to put the matter to rest. Just as Mercedes is building the Project One in part to capitalize on its Formula One success, a hypercar will help memorialize Toyota’s Le Mans win. Toyota is only the second Japanese automaker to win the legendary French race (after Mazda in 1991), and its 2018 victory came after years of near misses.
A computer animation professional with over 23 years of industry experience having served in leading organizations, TV channels & production facilities in Pakistan. An avid car enthusiast and petrolhead with an affection to deliver quality content to help shape opinions. Formerly written for PakWheels as well as major publications including Dawn. Founder of CarSpiritPK.com
