SHERIDAN, WYOMING – December 5, 2025 – For everyone who ever fell in love with a low-slung coupé on a poster, Toyota and Lexus just delivered a serious jolt of excitement: the world premiere of the Lexus LFA Concept EV sports car, together with the Toyota GR GT and GR GT3, promises a new era where performance, passion and future tech finally meet in one family of dream machines.
A World Premiere for Pure Driving Emotion
Held at Toyota’s Higashi-Fuji Plant in Eastern Japan, the event was less dry press conference and more love letter to car culture. It took place in a former press shop that once helped create the first Toyota Century in 1967 and is now reborn as the “Inventor’s Garage” of Woven City – a fitting stage for three radical new sports cars.
Lexus chief branding officer Simon Humphries reminded guests of a stinging moment 14 years ago at Pebble Beach, when Akio Toyoda was told bluntly, “Lexus is boring.” That humiliation became a turning point. Toyoda’s answer – “No more boring cars.” – is the thread running straight into today’s trio of wild, low and unapologetically emotional machines.
From the stance to the under-1,200 mm roofline, the new Lexus LFA Concept and its GR siblings are all about sensory “immersion” in driving: big proportions, bold surfaces and an ultra-low driving position designed to make you feel like you’re wearing the car, not just sitting in it.
Three Flagship Sports Cars, One Shared DNA
The world premiere brought three flagships together on one race-bred platform:
- Lexus LFA Concept – a battery electric sports car that aims to “completely redefine the sound of an electric sports car” and prove that BEVs can be thrilling, not clinical.
- Toyota GR GT – a road-legal sports car that shares its DNA with a race car, designed to be “wild on a track day, easy to drive around town.”
- Toyota GR GT3 – a full FIA GT3-spec race car built for people who want to win, whether they’re seasoned pros or ambitious privateer racers.
All three are guided by the same core philosophy: low center of gravity, low weight with high rigidity, and serious aerodynamic focus. For everyday sports-car fans, that translates into cars that should feel more planted, more communicative and more confidence-inspiring, whether you’re carving a mountain road or just enjoying a quiet late-night drive home.
From Humiliation at the ’Ring to Heroes in the Pits
The story behind these cars is surprisingly human. Akio Toyoda recalled driving the Nürburgring 20 years ago, in an old Supra under the alias “Morizo,” surrounded by rival brands testing top-secret prototypes. Watching faster cars fly past, he felt a deep frustration: “You guys at Toyota, there's no way you could ever build a car like this!”
That sting fueled a long journey through the LFA, GR86, GR Supra, GR Yaris, GR Corolla, hydrogen race cars and endurance racing. The “secret sauce” he talks about – lessons from humiliation turned into experience – is now baked into the GR GT, GR GT3 and the new LFA Concept.
Today, the pits are no longer just Akio and a single test driver; they’re filled with like-minded engineers, designers and racers who share that obsession with making cars that feel alive. As Toyoda puts it, they want to create cars that keep enthusiasts “excited,” generation after generation.
3 Ways This New Lexus & GR Sports-Car Family Matters for Fans
- Real driver connection, not just numbers: The team talks about kaiwa – the “conversation” between driver and car. These machines are being tuned not just for lap times, but for feedback you can actually feel in your hands and your stomach.
- A future where EVs are fun, not bland: The Lexus LFA Concept is explicitly built to challenge the idea that electric sports cars are soulless. From its dramatic proportions to its reimagined EV sound, it’s meant to tug at your emotions, not just your eco-conscience.
- Track hero, city companion: The GR GT is envisioned as a “circuit-ready, everyday driver” – the kind of car you can thrash at a track day and then happily park outside your favorite restaurant that same evening.
Why This Premiere Is Bigger Than Just Three Cars
Beyond the sheet metal, this world premiere signals how Toyota and Lexus want sports cars to survive in a changing world of carbon neutrality, new fuels and electrification. Whether it’s a V8 running on e-fuel, a hybrid track weapon or a full BEV like the LFA Concept, the goal is the same: keep the joy of driving at the limits of human capability alive.
And for car lovers, that’s the real news. It means the brands behind some of the most beloved drivers’ cars are not walking away from emotion – they’re doubling down on it, with concepts designed to carry the torch for global sports-car culture into the electric and hybrid age.
Learn more about Toyota’s latest sports-car concepts and future visions at https://global.toyota/.