Toyota's New Supercar Shares Surprising DNA With Humble Lexus Sedan

Daily Car

22/12/2025

Toyota has unveiled its highly anticipated GR GT supercar, a flagship performance machine designed to sit at the pinnacle of the brand's global offerings. While its exterior boasts a dramatic and aggressive aesthetic, it's the interior that has sparked intrigue, revealing unexpected design commonalities with a much older and more affordable Lexus model.

Key Takeaways

The Toyota GR GT supercar features interior design elements that appear to be shared with the Lexus IS sedan.
Shared components include air vents, upholstery color, and potentially toggle switches, suggesting clever parts-bin engineering.
This practice of high-end vehicles utilizing parts from more mainstream models is a long-standing tradition in the automotive industry.

A Familiar Interior for a Supercar

Upon closer inspection of the official images, several interior details of the GR GT bear a striking resemblance to the Lexus IS, the brand's entry-level sedan. Notably, the upholstery color options seem to echo Lexus' signature Radiant Red. While the GR GT incorporates premium materials like suede and carbon fiber, the air vents are particularly reminiscent of those found in the third-generation Lexus IS, which has been in production since 2013 and received several updates over the years.

Shared Origins or Strategic Repurposing?

The Lexus IS has undergone multiple revisions, including a significant interior refresh in 2025 that introduced the distinctive, sci-fi-inspired climate vents now seen in the GR GT. This timing raises the possibility that these components might have been developed with the GR GT in mind and subsequently repurposed for the IS, rather than the other way around. Additionally, aircraft-inspired toggle switches on the GR GT's center console share a general shape and finish with those in the IS, though the GR GT's switches are slightly different in design and number.

The placement and styling of the window and mirror switches appear to be directly borrowed from Toyota's general parts catalog, a common practice in automotive manufacturing. While the GR GT features unique elements like its gear selector and steering wheel controls, the use of shared components is a well-established strategy.

The Long History of Shared Parts

This practice of utilizing shared parts across different models and brands is not new. Luxury and limited-production vehicles have historically drawn from corporate parts bins to manage costs and streamline production. Examples abound, from Audi switchgear in Lamborghinis to Maserati using parts from Chrysler and Dodge. Even iconic supercars from the past, like the Lamborghini Diablo and McLaren F1, incorporated components from more common vehicles, demonstrating that innovation and shared engineering have long coexisted in the pursuit of automotive excellence.

It's also plausible that elements from the GR GT could find their way into future Gazoo Racing models, further integrating Toyota's performance divisions.

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