Newly minted but with historical pedigree, the Gazoo name to Toyota represents the bulk of their success in motorsports of recent memory. Now, the Japanese automaker wants establish it as their official performance arm, starting with 2018 Supra.
According to Autocar UK, Koei Saga, head of the Gazoo Racing said during the Monte Carlo Rally that being involved with the development and eventual rollout of the future hybrid sports car would be “a ‘dream’ of his”, and continued by saying that there is already a technology exchange between the hybrid powertrain in use for racing to the road car division.
Saga was tight-lipped about confirming key details, though the interview seemed to hint at the Supra already being locked-in as the Gazoo vehicle from the start, but how this will effect its name or branding is yet unknown.
Their racing experience does lean heavily on high-performance hybrid powertrains such as the World Endurance Championship LMP1 race car as well as the V8-hybrid Prius they field in the Super GT 300 class races.
It won’t be the Toyota car be branded under the Gazoo moniker, though. That distinction could fall to the recently revealed Yaris and its incoming hot variant that’s due to debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March.
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