Toyota GR GT3 concept revealed, Mazda could be involved

Evidence is mounting to suggest both Toyota and Mazda will each be launching a rear-wheel-drive coupe based on the same platform.

In recent days, Toyota unveiled its GR GT3 Concept racing car, which shares a strikingly similar silhouette to the Mazda RX-Vision GT3 Concept shown in early 2020, based on the RX-Vision concept first revealed in 2015.

Eyebrows were raised when Mazda showed off its racing car concept for Gran Turismo, as it’s not often a brand continues to keep a five year-old concept alive by turning it into a digital racing car.

While Toyota has been tight-lipped about the most recent racing car concept, the GT3 series in which the Toyota GR GT3 Concept is designed for requires the vehicles racing to be derived from a production model.

The Toyota GR GT3 Concept also happens to share a number of similarities with the Lexus LFA successor teased in recent months.

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Toyota GR GT3 Concept outline overlaid on the Mazda RX-Vision GT3 Concept.

It was back in 2017 that Toyota bought a five per cent stake in Mazda, with the latter understood to have invested in a 0.25 per cent stake in the former.

While there has been no end to rumours regarding Mazda’s next rotary-powered sports car, more recent media stories out of Japan have reported the two carmakers will share an upcoming rear-wheel-drive chassis – which will underpin the upcoming Mazda 6, and could be the basis for the next-gen Lexus IS.

Mazda has been developing a six-cylinder, rear-wheel-drive vehicle for a number of years, as the brand looks to move into the premium segment.

Patent filings have also pointed to the fact that Mazda is developing a rear-wheel-drive coupe, with similar dimensions to the RX-Vision concept from 2015.

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Other more recent reports have suggested Mazda may convert the rotary engine to accept hydrogen fuel, which may end up being used in conjunction with a recently-patented hybrid system.

In November, Mazda and Toyota (along with Subaru, Yamaha, and Kawasaki) announced they were joining forces in an attempt to keep the internal-combustion engine alive by using carbon-neutral fuels.

Other oddities have also come to the surface in the past few years. In 2018, Toyota revealed the E-Palette Concept using a Mazda-developed rotary engine as a range extender. In early 2020, US website Jalopnik reported on a rumour it had heard which suggested the Mazda RX-9 would, in fact, use the six-cylinder engine destined for the Mazda 6.

While it’s difficult to decipher fact from fiction, it’s not out of the realms of possibility to suggest Mazda is developing a coupe with the capability to accept both rotary and piston engines – though it is more likely to be one or the other.

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There’s certainly plenty of precedent for Toyota to collaborate on a new sports car, though. The auto giant partnered with Subaru on two-generations of the 86/BRZ, and looked to BMW to help create the new Supra.

Which now means there aren’t many sports car models from its past it can borrow from. However, almost a year ago to the day, CarBuzz uncovered fresh trademark filings for the Celica nameplate.

The growing body of evidence suggests there is something bubbling away below the surface between Mazda and Toyota – with the latest GT3 Concept offering the greatest hint – but exactly what will come of it remains to be seen.