Toyota may drop its plan of making the GR Super Sport Hypercar

KUALA LUMPUR: Last year, Toyota introduced the road-going prototype of its upcoming hypercar, the GR Super Sports, that will take on the likes of the Mercedes-AMG One, Aston Martin Valkyrie, and Koenigsegg Jesko. But as per a recent report by a Japanese magazine Racer, the planned hypercar has been put on halt, following a catastrophic accident during its prototype testing. The car caught fire and was damaged significantly while testing at Japan's Fuji Speedway back in July.

The publication also mentioned that the Japanese automaker is now having second thoughts on the development of the road-ready version of the GR010 Hybrid car, which is currently racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship. This means the halt of the road iteration does not affect the car’s racing program.

Toyota announced the rear-wheel-drive, two-seat GR Super Sport back in 2018 when Le Mans rules for the FIA World Endurance Championship needed carmakers to base their racing models on road-legal vehicles. However, new regulations removed this mandate and thus Toyota is not required to build the road-ready version of the GR Super Sport. Although the company intended to introduce the road car as a limited-run halo model.

Under the hood, the GR Super Sport is planned to get the road-tuned iteration of the electrified 2.4-litre twin-turbo V6 mill that can be found under the hybrid racer. While the automaker did not reveal the setup’s working and the number of electric motors, it quoted a planned output of 1,000 hp.

Regarding the GR Super Sport price and manufacturing quantity, Toyota did not spill the beans so far. However, it recently came up with a questionnaire for the car’s potential customers that has some interesting inquiries. The automaker wants to know the buyer’s car portfolio, and if someone had the Toyota 2000GT or the Lexus LFA, or if a person regularly drives on circuits and holds a racing license, chances of getting the GR Super Sport hypercar are high.     

Also read: Say hello to the Toyota GR Supra 35th Anniversary Edition model