The highly anticipated successor to the famed LFA of the early 2010s, the LFR is one of the Japanese luxury brand’s worst-kept secrets, having previously been spied testing in winged guise at the Nürburgring.
However, this latest footage from the US shows a wingless LFR being driven around Angeles Crest outside of Los Angeles, trailing a previous-generation Mercedes-AMG GT. It’s not clear whether the Merc was there for benchmarking or it was just a coincidence, however the presence of near-new Toyota Sequoias points to the former.
Reports have previously claimed the LFR will be powered by a twin-turbo V8 engine, mated to a hybrid system, as to be expected from a modern vehicle produced by Toyota.
While it likely won’t sound like the howling 4.8-litre V10 of the LFA, the LFR is expected to outperform its predecessor’s performance figures.
Initially expected to launch by the end of 2023 or 2024, it’s now likely we won’t see the LFR until the end of this year or even 2026, and it’s not yet clear how closely it’ll resemble the 2021 Lexus Electrified Sport concept, which was understood to be a fully electric vehicle.
The LFR will also spawn a GT3 racing version, expected to either be campaigned by Lexus or by Toyota as the GR GT3, which would compete in World Endurance Championship races alongside its Hypercar class GR010 Hybrid stablemate.
It’s been a long time since Lexus last had a true performance flagship to take on the world, with production of the LFA wrapping up in 2012. Since then, its range of hotter F-badged models – which competed against BMW’s M cars and Mercedes-AMG products – have also disappeared.
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