Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Cars
  3. News

Toyota’s low-slung concept car brings Le Mans technology to the street

Ronan Glon
By

Toyota
Image used with permission by copyright holder
In the middle of January, all eyes are on the annual Detroit Auto Show. In Japan, the big car-related event is called Tokyo Auto Salon. Toyota will be present at both events. We’ll see the next-generation Avalon in Detroit, and a brand-new concept named GR Super Sport in Tokyo.

The GR Super Sport draws inspiration from the TS050, the ultra-advanced prototype Toyota races in the World Endurance Championship (WEC). The dark teaser image released by the Japanese firm shows a low-slung coupe with pronounced front fenders, a wrap-around windshield that rests on rakish A-pillars, and a sloping roof line with a long fin. The back end wears a massive spoiler that stretches the entire width of the car, though it looks smaller than the one that provides the TS050 with downforce as it blasts down the Mulsanne Straight during the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Recommended Videos

Toyota explains it built the GR Super Sport concept to demonstrate how technology born on the track seeps down into its production models. The initials GR stand for Gazoo Racing, the brand-new performance sub-brand the company launched a couple of months ago. Rumors claim the upcoming Supra — which might not resurrect the Supra name after all — will join the Gazoo Racing sub-brand when it finally makes its debut.

Related

Mercedes-AMG showed one way to transfer technology from the track to the street with the Project One. Toyota could do the same with its next concept. Official technical details aren’t available yet, but Motor Authority speculates the GR Super Sport could use a toned-down version of the TS050’s gasoline-electric powertrain. It uses a twin-turbocharged 2.4-liter V6 engine and several electric motors to send up to 1,000 horsepower to all four wheels. A lithium-ion battery pack stores electricity.

Toyota will publish additional details about the GR Super Sport concept in the coming weeks. We’ll learn what the future holds for the model; it might be a simple design study but we’re hoping it will spawn a production model sooner or later. When the car makes its debut, we’ll also get more insight about the future of the company’s Le Mans effort and Toyota’s performance-oriented subdivision.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Ronan Glon
Ronan Glon
Contributor
Ronan Glon is an American automotive and tech journalist based in southern France. As a long-time contributor to Digital…
Mercedes-Benz Vision One-Eleven concept looks to the past for inspiration
Overhead view of the Mercedes-Benz Vision One-Eleven concept.

Mercedes-Benz this week unveiled a new electric concept car that looks back as well as forward. It's called the Vision One-Eleven, and it's a reminder that car designers have a long history of predicting the future.

The Vision One-Eleven is inspired by the C111 series of experimental vehicles that first appeared in 1969. With their aerodynamic styling, roof-hinged gullwing doors, and distinctive orange paint, the C111 cars became fixtures of auto show stands and car-magazine features throughout the 1970s. They were more than show cars, though, testing then-trendy ideas like fiberglass body panels and rotary engines.

Read more
The locations of over 2 million Toyota cars were exposed for 10 years
2018 toyota yaris gazoo news specs performance teaser logo

Ever get the sense that you're being tracked? Well, if you're a Toyota driver, you may have been. Toyota has disclosed in a statement that the locations of 2,150,000 of its customers were at risk of breach between November 6, 2013, and April 17, 2023.

Information that was at risk specifically included the vehicle GPS and navigation terminal ID number, the chassis number, and the location of the vehicle with time data. This information is related to Toyota's cloud-based Connected service, which is used to remind owners to get maintenance done, stream entertainment in the car, and help find owners during emergency situations. Users who used services like Toyota Connected, G-Link, and G-Book were potentially affected.

Read more
Audi ActiveSphere concept is part luxury sedan, part pickup truck
Audi ActiveSphere concept car in a mountainous setting with a bike on the rear rack.

Audi unveiled the fourth and final member of its Sphere-branded series of concept cars, and the design study is unlike anything we've seen before. Called ActiveSphere, it's an electric luxury sedan with a generous amount of ground clearance that can turn into a pickup truck.

Created at the Audi Design Studio in Malibu, California, the ActiveSphere stretches approximately 196 inches long, 81 inches wide, and 63 inches tall, figures that make it about as long as the current-generation A6, 7 inches wider, and 6 inches taller. It wears a rounded exterior design characterized by thin headlights, a transparent piece of trim where you'd expect to find a grille, and a fastback-like silhouette.

Read more