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Toyota Exploring All-Electric Supercar Option: Report

The age of the electric supercar is fast approaching, with Audi's upcoming e-tron and the recently-revealed Mercedes SLS AMG E-Cell leading the way. New reports out of the US this week suggest that the world's number one carmaker is looking to


The age of the electric supercar is fast approaching, with Audi's upcoming e-tron and the recently-revealed Mercedes SLS AMG E-Cell leading the way. New reports out of the US this week suggest that the world's number one carmaker is looking to join the fray.

American website MotorTrend is reporting this week that Toyota boss Akio Toyoda, inspired by a spin in the Tesla Roadster, has approved advanced research into the idea of an electric supercar.

Toyota and Tesla have recently joined forces to develop new electric vehicle technologies, and while Rav4 and Lexus RX prototypes have been hinted at, there has yet to be any official word on expanding the project to include a supercar.

According to MotorTrend, Toyota's electric supercar will produce nearly 400kW, using electric motors at all four wheels to propel itself to 100km/h in around four seconds. Whether there's any substance to this report remains to be seen, although it doesn't take a great deal of inventive thought to cook up details like those.

While Toyota has been a driving force in the hybrid market for some years with the Prius, now into its third generation, the Japanese carmaker has been relatively quiet on the electric vehicle front.

Its new partnership with Tesla will undoubtedly help it make up lost ground, but any leap into supercar territory is likely some ways off - if it comes at all. However, with the benefit of Toyota's existing Lexus LFA platform to work off, the idea is not completely without merit.

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