Lexus Sport Concept

I have always been terribly bad at predicting what's Toyota's future plans are in terms production discontinuation and upcoming production models. I am pretty certain there will be either a new Lexus or Toyota coupe with a twin-turbo V8 based on the Toyota GR GT3 concept that will serve as the successor to the RC F GT3 that is set to be decommissioned from WEC and IMSA GT3 class of racing this calendar year, possibly to be ready for production and homologated in the next calendar year in anticipation of the 2026 championship season.

It is my opinion that GR GT3 will serve as the successor to both the RC and LC. Given the poor market and low volume for coupes, I cannot envision Lexus dumping development/production costs to maintain two separate lines of coupes going forward. Similarly, I suspect that the new 2026 ES will be a consolidation and serve as a replacement for both ES and the aging LS. The GS has already been discontinued a while back.





However, this Lexus Sport Concept completely threw me for a loop and came out of left field. It may be simply a concept that never makes it to fruition as a production model. But if it does, what this is this intended to be or replace? Based on the proportions (front axle to dash ratio, rear overhang, wheelbase, angle of the sloping rear roofline) it looks to be a different car than the GR GT3. I've been wrong many times before trying to predict Toyota/Lexus's future moves and I would love to hear people's thoughts (any insight @LexLight@05RollaXRS?).

 

More pictures here....
I think it looks great.

 

I don't like the vertical line on the side, reminds me of the only flawed design on the maserati mc20

 

The front is for sure the LC design language. Side profile is a bit of a mixed bag and the rear is the new Lexus / LFA inspired

i think it would be the LC successor… but without the v8 and either a turbo 6 with hybrid or EV, I’m not that interested.

 

Lexus Sport Concept....?

Perhaps they are bringing the SC model name back...

 

This new Lexus Sport Concept is ugly. Their initial design by Calty (the current ES is also Calty btw, the new one is from Japan) research facility from Goodwood 2022 was much superior in every single aspect it had the smooth lines of Japanese designs. And suited the futuristic style of Japanese works in their media and current Lexus design philosophy.

https://www.lexus.eu/discover-lexus/...pt-at-goodwood






The modern one looks bad to me, even their GR GT3 concept is fantastic. But the ones shown at Goodwood Festival in Summer 2025 looked not that great to me, esp the renders, because they abandoned the smooth lines with sharp jagged cuts ruining the flow of design. The new LFR, or Toyota GR GT3, has sharp cut fender vents, very rough design and the interior also is having all straight lines and sharp cuts over the current smooth natural flow.

Also the RCF GT3 successor will debut in 2026, since RCF is still scheduled to race at IMSA / WEC still in 2025 it won't debut this year. Coming to the powertrain options, the GT3 racecar will have Twin Turbo V8 from the earlier impressions by many at Goodwood 2025, but no idea what this engine is derived from too much secrecy on it, it won't have BS Electrification because GT3 rules are against any hybrids. However the road going homologation car will have hybrid, it will replace both LC 500 and RC F classes into a bigger price bracket car. The RC and LC will be replaced by upcoming Celica or Supra base with a combined Coupe, powered by a Turbo 4 or Inline 6 Turbo from Mazda. V8 won't exist in this price bracket anymore.

The 3 principles of F division at Lexus were (as per Mr. Yaguchi) - Smooth Linear acceleration power having continuous acceleration feeling, Driver engagement for maximum enjoyment and experience. The final but most important one - Sound, the engine must have a sonorous track to compliment it's engineering. These were the fundamentals. The 2UR-GSE satisfies all of them, so once they kill the engine and not have a successor it's the end of line.

Now Lexus is abandoning them, also many do not even know if Lexus plans to keep F division alive or not imagine having F-Sport but not real F, it's a bigger sin than BMW M and Mercedes-Benz AMG dilution.

Yukihiko Yaguchi san left Lexus as F Chief Engineer role in 2020, marking the end of an era, they cancelled GS due to ES taking its sales and GS F was killed pretty fast. Then RC F got it's final facelift. Looking at the new ES, and the Lexus division focus on their Arene OS, and their new brand direction, Lexus as a brand that was old era from 1989 LS 400 and to modern classics like LC 500, IS 500 and the last F car alive being RC F are the end of road. For me the brand is losing it's core essence, abandoning NA engines which are tried and true with proper interior design, focused on high quality and user control is all going away even the designs are inferior and chasing trends than setting. I do not have much hope left for Lexus, that's my opinion based on the things drastically changing at Toyota Motor Corp.

 

I have a theory about this concept car. From its proportions and apparent powertrain, it looks directly evolved from the electric supercar concept they showed a few years ago. Given the thudding market failure of most electric sports/supercars at the moment, I don’t think we’ll see this concept in production form, anytime soon.

Rather, I suspect they had a team update the old concept car to use design language from the true imminent new models, namely the LFR and, in particular, the Supra-derived car (SC?)

A fairly easy way to keep the hype momentum building, ahead of some big reveals at the next show in Tokyo…?

 

I agree completely with your thoughtful assessment. I was criticized when I posted in the Facebook LexFest Lexus LC 500 | 500h Owners & Enthusiasts group that this New Design Philosophy is a departure from the L-Finesse Design Philosophy that the current model lines have followed with the exception of the 2026 ES which is following this new look. There is more respect in this forum for differences in opinion than Facebook.

Even Kirk Kreifels noted that the new ES was designed for the Chinese Market vs US. Look at where they launched it- China.

 

It has a 4.0L twin turbo V8, originally developed for the LC-F before that project was cancelled. They've since added a hybrid system as well.

 

Calty has made some great designs. I believe the SC 300/400 was designed by Calty and that has aged gracefully with the beautiful lines and curves in my opinion. The FT-1 Supra Concept also was gorgeous before it had to be draped over a Z4 chassis and ruined by engineering and safety constraints. Was the LF-LC concept designed by Calty? What other notable Toyota/Lexus cars were Calty responsible for?

I would note that a production road-going car can still be a hybrid and homologated for IMSA and WEC. Two examples are the NSX and Aston Martin Valkyrie. Both road-going cars have hybrid powertrain setups, though the NSX GT3 car and Valkyrie Hypercar class car in IMSA and WEC have pure ICE setups.

Kirk made a great point that the ES is selling over 100K units annually in China currently, for which the US never reached those volumes in ES's history. Unfortunately, as much as the new ES is such departure from the predecessor, it's the most sound business proposition for Lexus to design it to China's market tastes.

 

Fellas, I think the LC500 looks MUCH better than any of those concepts above.

This is not my car, a friend found it in a parking lot - simply beautiful:

 

I think the coupe looks great but it feels very different from the LC500. I prefer the LC but I like this a lot.

 

I personally like how the new one (whatever it may be called) looks. Against the LC500, the new one makes the lc500 look dated.

 

This concept looks great! Glad to see Lexus is still committed to proper flagship sports cars, hopefully with a V8. It’ll probably be significantly more expensive than the LC.

 

That’s an interesting take. The LC 500 looks less contrived, more organic and elegant. Tastes definitely vary for sure.