Toyota is building a road-going hypercar

By topgear, 20 June 2018

Toyota is going to build a road-going ‘super sportscar’. This is roughly the time you can start getting disproportionately excited.

Following on from the company’s historic Le Mans win – and indeed, 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.

It’ll use the technology showcased by the TS050 Le Mans winner. And you don’t have to wonder too hard about what such a package will look like, because Toyota’s already built one: the GR Super Sport concept.

This concept was first unveiled at the start of the year, and packs a 2.4-litre twin-turbo V6 petrol engine combined with electric motors, to produce 1,000hp.

“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,” explains Toyota Gazoo Racing boss Shigeki Tomoyama.

“We started this project because we believe that creating a super sportscar that delivers the same appeal as the TS050 Hybrid greatly adds to Toyota’s involvement in the WEC,” he added.

“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.”

So, let us repeat for effect. Toyota is going to build a road-going ‘super sportscar’, using technology from a Le Mans-winning prototype.

STORY Vijay Pattni

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