Lexus LFA Successor Could Have a Twin-Turbo V8 in 2025, According to Giant Rumor

Said to be Lexus’s final combustion-engined vehicle, it’ll supposedly be cheaper and more powerful than the V10-powered LFA of yore.

byJames Gilboy|
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Toyota has been unusually keen on supercars these last few months, first revealing a futuristic, high-performance Lexus coupe, followed by a possibly hydrogen-powered GT3 race car concept. Now, word from Japan has it that both cars are actually under development and that the latter will influence a successor to the legendary Lexus LFA, which we could see in as little as three years.

A report from Japan's Best Car alleges Toyota has a trio of supercars in the works, all of which we've already seen in one form or another. The first of these will apparently be the GR Super Sport, a Le Mans-ready hypercar that seems wasn't canceled after all, despite a rumored fire during testing. Best Car cites "a person familiar with GR [Gazoo Racing]" as saying that expertise gathered from its development will be used to advance the GR GT3 race car, which itself will pave the way for Lexus' final combustion-engined model, an apparent supercar speculatively referred to as "LFA2."

Lexus Electrified Sport concept EV, Lexus

The "LFA2" will reportedly be the final combustion-engined sports car for Toyota as a whole and will be related to the GR GT3, which reportedly enters testing later this year on an expedited development schedule. Though the GR GT3 will reportedly be a race car only, its development is all but confirmed to aid in the development of a future road car, as revealed by Toyota Racing Development President David Wilson.

"What we've all come to learn is that's not the way you bring a GT3 car to market," Wilson said to Car & Driver, referring to the RC GT3's compromised road-to-racetrack development trajectory. "Before you put your first line on paper, you decide you're going to race that car and that shapes the design parameters, the performance parameters of that production car."

"It's fairly safe to connect the dots and suggest that that could be a precursor to the next global GT3 car for Lexus," Wilson hinted.

2012 Lexus LFA, Lexus

While C&D took this to indicate the future direction of the Lexus RC, Best Car indicates this vehicle will be significantly higher-performing, right up there in supercar territory. Based on a development of the current LC's GA-L platform, the LFA2-slash-RC will reportedly house a 4.0-liter, twin-turbo V8, potentially with hybrid boost, for an output of about 700 horsepower. Relative to the unattainable LFA and GR Super Sport, it'll be somewhat affordable as far as supercars go, with a price falling in the low-mid $200,000s, and an uncapped production run.

It's reportedly anticipated to debut around 2025 as Toyota's sendoff to high-performance combustion engines, though it'll obviously not mark the end of fast Toyotas. That mantle will apparently be carried on by the production version of the Lexus Electrified Sport concept, the electric coupe it revealed in December. With that car, Toyota aims to achieve a zero-to-60 mph time in the low two-second range and over 435 miles of range, both using solid-state battery technology, which Toyota's already testing on the open road.

Admittedly, Best Car doesn't have a perfect track record when it comes to forecasts of fast Toyotas, but its citation of an insider is a promising sign, as is the alleged supercar's effective corroboration by a TRD official. So, even if its final details aren't set in stone, it's clear Toyota has at least one more supercar in store.

Got a tip or question for the author? You can reach them here: james@thedrive.com

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