Despite a trademark, enthusiast anticipation and excitement, and nearly unanimous media coverage of Toyota’s upcoming sports car as the “Lexus LFR,” it appears all but final that the new car will wear a GR badge — not a circle L.
The LFR is over before it started.
Teaser images released by Toyota almost always have a subtext for those who look at the details, and one such photo was released today in advance of an upcoming October 13th major brand announcement. The image above shows the Lexus LFA behind a GR branded sports car with the words, “The soul lives on.” The Lexus and GR logos are both visible in the photo and there is no doubt the placement of these two cars and their logos are intentional.
This is the latest clue in a series of teaser releases for Toyota’s upcoming sports car. A year ago in season 2, episode 1 of the GRIP Anime Series, Toyota released another teaser image that’s worth recalling:
Careful eyes pointed out that a sketchboard in the background of one shot in the series outlined Toyota’s future product plans:
* Supra MK6
* Celica MK8
* MR2 MK4
* GR 86 MK3
* GR GT3
Toyota hasn’t been shy about their GR GT3 car which was introduced at the 2022 Tokyo Auto Salon and has been spied on numerous roads and race tracks around the world ever since. To Toyota’s credit, the car was always badged as a GR vehicle and called the “GT3 Concept,” although enthusiasts and much of the media expected the car to come to market as a Lexus considering the implied price point.
In 2022, Lexus Enthusiast received and posted an image from a Lexus dealer meeting of the GR GT3 wearing a Lexus badge, but Lexus promptly asked to have the image removed and we obliged. So perhaps a Lexus “LFR” — or Lexus version of the GR GT3 Concept — was in consideration at one point years ago.
Last, consider the recently released Lexus Sport Concept from August of this year. It is likely an updated version of the 2021 Electrified Sport Concept, which Lexus clearly stated had electric power — not a gasoline engine.
The Lexus Electrified Sport Concept offered a vision for a future all-electric, high-performance model. Its styling, initially developed at Lexus’ Calty design studio in California, presents bold proportions and a low ride height while the performance potential of its electric powertrain and solid state battery technology suggest 0-100 km/h acceleration in the low two-second area and a cruising range of more than 700 km.
Showing an updated version of the car in 2025 amidst the teasers and speculation about Toyota’s GT GT3 is a clear directive: These cars are not the same, and only one wears the Lexus badge.
2021 Lexus Electrified Sport Concept:
2025 Lexus Sport Concept:
After numerous videos from the Nurburgring and other race tracks, one thing we know for sure is that the road going GR GT3 is not electric. The exhaust note and induction noise are clearly from a car with an engine, although there may be some hybridization on board as well.
Amidst discussion of high performance Lexus vehicles, it must be noted that Lexus’ F subrand heads into retirement this year as the RC F bows out of production with no other F cars currently in production, teased, or trademarked. The RC, RC F, and the F subrand join the GS and, recently, the iconic LS in being discontinued enthusiast favorites, but also cars that helped elevate Lexus to being a luxury brand truly capable of challenging the world’s best luxury automotive brands.
With many of these changes, it certainly feels like Lexus has been deprioritized in favor of the Toyota brand, and a formal announcement of GR as an independent brand and the GT3 as its first dedicated car wouldn’t be surprising if Lexus has been moved to the back burner. That is another topic to be covered another time.
