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Toyota Doesn’t Know What To Do With The GR Super Sport Hypercar

Developing a street-legal version of an electric race car isn’t easy as we’ve seen from Mercedes-AMG and the difficulties it’s having with getting the One ready to go on the road. The idea debuted in September 2017, and production won’t begin until 2022 at the earliest. Toyota is also facing similar prospects with its GR Super Sport concept.

The ultimate fate of the road-legal automobile has been a topic of debate in recent months, with unnamed Japanese sources claiming that a prototype was engulfed in flames after colliding during a test at Fuji Speedway. Toyota apparently discontinued the GR Super Sport road vehicle while retaining the race car version as a result of the fiery incident. The Drive contacted Toyota Motorsports

“The GR Super Sport remains a concept at this time while Toyota studies the potential commercialization of this car.”

So, this isn’t exactly confidence-inspiring. It appears that the road-going hypercar has not been cancelled. However, it hasn’t been authorized for production either, so its fate is currently up in the air. The fact that the Le Mans Hypercar rules never state that a road car is necessary also drastically lowers the chances of manufacture, especially because Peugeot has ruled out a street version of the 9X8.

Toyota Australia’s communications director Orlando Rodriguez stated back in August 2018 that a potential production model would be comparable to other hypercars in terms of performance and pricing. The Japanese firm established an online survey for potential GR Super Sport purchasers this year, asking them (alongside other questions) if they own a 2000GT or a Lexus LFA. The company is still working on it, and it’s still active, which may suggest that Toyota isn’t giving up hope.

According to the most recent information on the hypercar’s technical details, it could have over 1,000 horsepower from a hybrid setup based around a V6 engine. We’re hoping it’s still in the works, rather than another GT-One of which only two were produced in the late 1990s and never offered to customers.

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