Toyota, Subaru introduce wild-looking race cars at Tokyo Auto Salon

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The brand hasn’t flexed quite as hard at the 2022 Tokyo Auto Salon, but is still impressing with a collection of seriously cool concepts and one of the most badass Yarises ever seen. 

Starting at the parent brand itself, Toyota brought the Gazoo Racing (GR) GT3 Concept and souped-up Yaris that it announced last week. With a long hood, all-black everything, and that massive rear wing; there’s more than a little 1990s Batmobile in the GT3 Concept’s looks. Toyota calls the vehicle the “pinnacle of customer motorsport,” but has not released any specific performance or design details. 

The GRMN Yaris, on the other hand, was apparently conceived to “deliver cars to customers that evolve quickly and can be tailored to individuals like in the field of motorsports.” In other words, here is a more attainable track car to potentially become available for Toyota enthusiasts.  

Subaru’s new EV bZ4X made an appearance in sport guise as the bZ4X GR Sport Concept, featuring larger tires, matte black exterior finishings, and sports seats. 

And from Lexus we saw two offroad concepts — the NX PHEV Offroad Concept based on the NX 450h hybrid, and ROV Concept, which uses a hydrogen engine for power — that “embody the brand’s aspirations to realize a carbon-neutral society, expand customers’ choices and lifestyles, and provide new values that exceed customers’ expectations.”

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Then there’s the Subaru STI E-RA concept, which promises the most performance of all the concepts displayed thanks to four independent motors using a 60KWh battery, and a max output of 800KW. With said four-wheel torque, the 1073-horsepower STI E-RA aims to set a new Nürburgring record at 6 minutes 40 seconds.

The Tokyo Auto Salon concludes on Sunday, January 16.