Performance Is Back! Toyota Previews New Le Mans Based Hypercar

... According to the new regulations, a manufacturer that competes in the Hypercar class with a road car-based racer must build a minimum of 20 road models over a two-year period...

How much of similarity is mandated?

I suspect the devil will be in the details. But safe to say they will have to be road legal with lights and turn signals, safety tech and being able to see out of the rear of the vehicle. Benz CLK GTR would give you a pretty good idea.

How does a "Le Mans-based hypercar" sell Corollas?

@MD- Much like the justification for the Toyota F1 Team. Somebody got everyone in the room to agree to it. We are a big car company. We should be in F1. We should win Le Mans. We should finish 1-2-3. Ford did it. So can we. Etc...

They can be like TVR and pay for decals on a car.

If Lotus was smart they would jump into this series by modifying their plans for a BEV hypercar and instead build a hybrid with a turbo V6 or V8 and go racing. They can also sell a few on the side too whereby they comply with the regulations of the series. Maybe even more than a few.

if Lotus was smart, they would figure out how to deliver a gorgeous, mainstream sports car for $45K and sell them by the boatload. Lotus isn't taken seriously against Porsche, Ferrari, etc. Lotus has been largely an effeminate TVR with less propensity to go bankrupt but with equal inattention to quality.

@MD- With Geely money and now being in the fold, I suspect Geely will want the storied brand to assume its rightful place and likely try to take on Ferrari. The Bar plan made sense for Lotus. Hopefully Geely does something similar with an SUV or two in the mix. If MacLaren can come in with a new line of production cars having never made them before and charge big money, so can Lotus.

Taking on Ferrari is NOT Lotus' "rightful" place. That would be like aiming Buick at Rolls Royce. Lotuses have never been taken seriously against Ferrari/Lamborghini/Porsche and they never will. Lotus' history is very "kit car" with their vehicles cobbled together from the parts of other makers usually. But I've never liked Lotus. Most Lotuses throughout the company's history have lacked horsepoerr. With the exception of the early version of the Esprit and the same-era Eclat and Elite, Lotuses have always been "meh" for me. I flat out despise the Elise and Evora stylistically.

@MD I would have to disagree. Having been a player in F1 and won races, championships and constructors championships they do belong in the same breath as Ferrari, but it has been a while. Too long. No argument about to go-kart current cars or the weaknesses of past offerings. The consumer game never equaled their F1 success. Maybe this time it will be different. If everything is going to be a BEV at some point, suspension setup, infotech and styling will be kingmakers if all the electric motors do is hum. Is so Lotus has a chance.

You're one of those Emperor's New Clothes kind of guys. Road-going Lotuses have been rather crappy as a rule. Anyone can have an F1 team that has NOTHING in common with the brand's real cars. Unlike Porsche, NONE of the racing technology trickled down to the street cars.

@MD- All the reasons I have stated are the reasons Geely bought the firm and are putting $1.9B into Lotus. I was shocked to read they put $11B in Volvo in the last 9 years. They want Lotus to be a global luxury/sports brand and compete with Ferrari. Your turn now. Why did they buy Lotus and why put that kind of money into a kit-car company using Toyota engines? To me this is like BMW buying Rolls Royce just for the name. Lotus can reinvent the brand any way it wants to.

Felicia, get your hand out of your underwear vis a vis your Lotus fantasies.

Looks like the Mach 5!

It's too ugly to be the Mach 5.