When longtime Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda announced plans to move on from the top job at Toyota to assume the chairman's seat, more than a few enthusiasts were worried that meant an end to the performance cars and return to motorsports he helped usher in. After all, the future Toyota and the rest of the industry faces-battery-electric vehicles, autonomous driving and software features-don't necessarily scream "fun."
A few fears were assuaged when Toyoda announced his successor would be Koji Sato, an engineer and the former Lexus and Gazoo Racing chief who's a known gearhead as well. And now we know Toyota's planning a few wild-card experiments too as it leans more heavily into the electric era.
Toyota's GR go-fast brand is working on a mysterious electric performance car that has engine sounds and a manual gearbox, Toyoda himself revealed last week at a briefing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a small group of reporters, including Road & Track.
"I actually had the opportunity to test-drive a battery EV that GR is working on," Toyoda said through an interpreter. "The very difference that the BEV has that GR is developing is that you can actually hear the sound-engine noise," he added in English. "You just won't be able to smell the gasoline."
While other automakers, including Ford's Mustang Mach-E, have simulated engine sounds via the car's stereo system, this electric GR goes quite a bit further to deliver what enthusiasts want.
"It has a manual transmission. There's also clutches too," Toyoda added. From what the chairman said, the goal seems to be to create a zero-emission performance car with all the tactile sound and feel of a gasoline car, minus the emissions.
Toyoda's announcement comes around the same time engineers in Japan confirmed the company would start offering manuals on EVs beginning in 2026.
Toyoda's announcement gives shape to a few plans we've heard about lately. Last year, British motoring mag Evo tested a prototype Lexus with a manual transmission for electric cars, the first of its kind in such an application. That car was said to be able to mimic the feel of a clutch and a stick shift, and it could even be stalled if the driver made a mistake. It just did all of this with software that augments the electric torque output rather than mechanical underpinnings. It even offered simulated engine sounds. One assumes that whatever GR cooks up will be more thrilling than a small Lexus crossover, too.
Toyoda didn't elaborate on whether this concept might be a sports car, a hot hatchback or something else entirely. But he did imply it would be visually distinctive.
"If you put that car in front of someone and say, test drive this, and then ask what powertrain this is, they probably won't be able to answer correctly," he said. "But if you look at the car from the outside, the appearance is [that of] a BEV."
Another person with knowledge of the situation confirmed the car does exist, and said it's drivable as well.
Toyoda said he didn't know if that car would be introduced into the market or not-or possibly just isn't saying so at this moment, since he is the chairman of the company and all-but said the GR division "is trying to explore what we should not lose in a car, even if it is a BEV."
The new chairman had a busy weekend at the Circuit de la Sarthe, accepting the coveted Spirit of Le Mans trophy for his GR team's many wins there over the years; Toyota's the fourth manufacturer with five straight wins after Ferrari, Porsche and Audi. He also took a lap in a hydrogen-powered GR Corolla race car that's being used in the Super Taikyu Series in Japan and used the opportunity to tout that fuel's potential future applications in racing as well.
Toyoda said the forthcoming electric GR model is an example of how things have changed at the company, where it's less top-down than it infamously once was and more attuned to bold ideas from within. "I think I can probably say, with this example, that Toyota has really changed into a company where [employees] can look into an idea that sounds interesting, and create a car from their ideas and make a test-drive possible," he said.
In part because of its hydrogen and hybrid focus, Toyota's been accused of being behind on full battery EVs, but that already seems to be changing. Days after Le Mans, Toyota announced aggressive new plans for battery and EV development, including the pursuit of a 900-mile solid-state battery by the end of this decade. Toyota has also previously announced 10 new battery EV models by 2026 and confirmed at least one will be a sports car. In recent years it's even shown off two potential EV concepts: one that has the appearance of a mid-engined sports car, and another that looks like an almost LFA-ish front-engined supercar. Minus the engines, of course.
Maybe the manual isn't dead yet; it just needs to go electric to survive.
Patrick George is a writer and editor in New York. The former editor-in-chief of Jalopnik and editorial director of The Drive, he covers the future of transportation.