It’s basically a slightly dressed up racing car, and they say it’s the future.
‘Super Sport’ isn’t a name you’d think would meld with anything to do with Toyota much less a car that looks every bit as insatiably fast as this. But it does, as the Japanese automaker has just proved at the ongoing Tokyo Auto Salon.
The GR Super Sport, developed by Gazoo Racing (hence part of its name), is apparently Toyota’s vision for their next generation of sports car, confirming that the brand really is heading back to its earlier days and more daring ways.
From what we can see here, they’ve taken more than a few cues from their efforts in LMP1 class racing car, the TS050 Hybrid, which competes in the World Endurance Championship, even down to using the same parts in its construction. Of course, it’s nowhere near as aggressive with its aerodynamics compared to its racing brethren, and probably arrives with more creature comforts, one would hope.
One element that it did carry from the race car that it took inspiration from is its hybrid powertrain. Displacing a relatively tiny 2.4-litres in a V6 configuration, the twin-turbo unit generates 735kW. It’s also supplemented by an electric motor and other hybrid components lifted right from the LMP1 cars.
Rather than being a mere fleeting interest on the show floor, Toyota has clearly gone through lengths to ensure that the car represented here is as technologically grounded as possible. Being a strict two seater, it’s dressed in lightweight carbon fibre throughout and the cockpit itself has very few items you can argue to be dead weight.
While there’s already plenty of chatter ongoing about the joint two-door coupe co-developed with BMW as the next Supra, Toyota may be plotting a near future where an even faster more high performance model sits at the top of the heap.
At the Tokyo Auto Salon, Shigeki Tomoyama, President of Gazoo Racing, said: “…this is the starting point for Toyota's completely new challenge to develop sports cars from active race cars. Although it will be some time before you all have the opportunity to get behind the wheel, I hope that the GR Super Sport Concept will give you a taste of what we aim to achieve with our next-generation sports cars.
For more on Toyota cars, check out our Showroom.
