With this year’s Monterey Car Week well underway, we’ve been steadily keeping track of everything that’s been getting unveiled, but this has caught us somewhat off guard. Right out of the blue, here’s the Lexus Sport Concept, a concept for a dramatically proportioned grand tourer. And that’s literally all we know.
Lexus says it’s a ‘future-focused yet truly authentic sportscar’ and ‘signals the way forward for Lexus design,’ and that’s about all it says. It’s rather come out of left field, though.
Lexus Sport Concept – rear
It’s no secret that Toyota has a new long-bonneted front-engined sports car in the works. It was previewed as far back as 2022 with the GR GT3 concept, a car that then reappeared at some events with Lexus badges, and since then, prototypes have been seen testing all over the world, most recently running in public for the first time at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
That car, rumoured to feature a twin-turbo V8 and possibly a hybrid system in roadgoing guise, is being developed to serve as the basis for Toyota’s next-generation GT3 racer, and there’s still confusion as to what badges it’ll wear. Some suggest it’ll retain the Toyota GR GT3 name for production, and others that it’ll be badged Lexus LFR and be positioned as a successor to the legendary LFA supercar.
Lexus Sport Concept – front
Logic would suggest that the Sport Concept is another hint at it – indeed, the proportions are near-identical. The styling, though, bears very little resemblance to either the GR GT3 concept nor what we can make out of the prototypes.
There’s also the fact that Lexus is being very quiet on the Sport Concept’s powertrain, and we can’t make out any visible exhaust pipes on it. Could this, in fact, have more to do with 2022’s Lexus Electrified Sport Concept, another design study with classic GT proportions but envisioned with an electric powertrain?
Lexus Sport Concept – side detail
Or is this a total red herring, and purely what Lexus says it is – merely an exploration of its future design language, and nothing to do with any future production cars? At this point, your guess is as good as ours. Looks good though, doesn’t it?
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