Dan Mihalascu is an accomplished automotive journalist with over two decades of automotive media work both internationally and in his home country of Romania.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, and he has reviewed (sometimes even raced) cars for most of his professional life.
Prior to joining HotCars.com in July 2025, Dan worked as a news writer and editor for InsideEVs.com, CarScoops.com and Autoevolution.com. He also has bylines at DriveMag.com and ConsumerAffairs.com, among other international media outlets.
In Romania, he wrote for car magazines, sports newspapers and even a TV news station.
Writing and cars aside, he loves reading, cycling, hiking and spending quality time with his family.
Toyota has confirmed it is working on a new V8 engine, which is expected to power the company’s two upcoming supercars: the Toyota GR GT and Lexus LFA successor, rumored to bear the LFR name.
The confirmation comes from Toyota’s most senior powertrain engineer, Takashi Uehara.
Speaking with Australian media at the Japan Mobility Show, Uehara said a twin-turbo V8 engine will debut in Toyota’s GR GT supercar, which will be previewed on December 5 in Japan ahead of a public debut at the Tokyo Auto Salon in January 2026.
Uehara noted that the new V8 engine is based on Toyota’s upcoming family of modular four-cylinder gas engines that include 1.5- and 2.0-liter units. The executive said the new V8 is “widely speaking” related to the 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine mounted in the mid-engine GR Yaris M concept. The turbocharged four-cylinder motor, codenamed G20E, produces more than 400 hp in the GR Yaris M.
While Uehara did not reveal the twin-turbo V8’s displacement, the fact that it’s based on the 2.0-liter turbo-four suggests it could be a 4.0-liter. Obviously, the twin-turbo V8 in the GR GT supercar will make a lot more power thanks to its extra bank of four-cylinders, additional turbocharger and high-revving nature. But wait, there’s more. Uehara also confirmed that the twin-turbo V8 will be part of a hybrid system, albeit not a plug-in hybrid one.
That’s great news, and it gets even better because Uehara said the twin-turbo V8 will also be offered in the future Lexus supercar previewed by the Sport Concept. “You can expect – you see the Lexus new sports car? That is that…,” Takashi Uehara said, referring to the Sport Concept shown in Tokyo, when asked if Lexus customers can also expect the V8 engine in future models.
He also hinted at the twin-turbo V8 being offered in two different flavors, one for Toyota and one for Lexus. “So maybe we could have a V8 with a more gentle [character] or we could have a more muscular, heavy-duty version,” Uehara said.
This suggests that the V8 will be tuned differently, with the GR GT getting a more hardcore variant while the LFR could get a more refined version worthy of a grand tourer. Additionally, Toyota’s twin-turbo V8 will also offer a racing variant that will power the GR GT race car version that will compete in the FIA GT3 class.
After its August debut at Monterey Car Week, where only the exterior was revealed, the Lexus Sport Concept is currently on display at the Japan Mobility Show, where the interior is being showcased for the first time. We’ve already seen that it features a steering yoke in place of a conventional steering wheel and a digital gauge cluster including a battery charge meter, which confirms that it has an electrified powertrain.
Compared to the variant shown in Monterey, the Sport Concept also features minor exterior styling changes aimed at improving aerodynamics, according to Lexus. Expect more details about the Lexus Sport Concept after its sibling, the Toyota GR GT supercar, is previewed on December 5 at 11:00 am Tokyo time.
Source: Car Expert
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