Toyota really is on a roll right now. The GR Yaris’ ‘Gen 2’ has just arrived, while the GR Corolla and GR86 are still going strong everywhere but Europe. Oh, and there’s the small matter of a Supra GRMN on the horizon.
Now, Gazoo Racing has turned its attention to Lexus for its latest car – meet the LBX Morizo RR.
Revealed earlier this year as a concept, Lexus has now confirmed the Morizo RR will be entering production complete with the G16E-GTS 1.6-litre turbocharged three-pot. Its figures match that of the JDM GR Yaris with 300bhp and 299lb ft of torque.
Lexus LBX Morizo RR, rear
That’ll be delivered to an all-wheel-drive system through a six-speed manual gearbox or, optionally, the eight-speed Direct Automatic Transmission recently introduced by Toyota.
Beyond just sticking a more potent engine into the LBX, the Morizo RR also comes with what’s called ‘Response Enhancing Damping Structure’ for the front suspension arms. Apparently, that improves its responsiveness (shock (suspension pun intended)) and refinement.
It sits 10mm lower than the base car and 155mm wider too, thanks to some slightly blistered wheel arches. It’s refreshingly not all that heavy all things considered – weighing 1,440kg for the manual while the auto adds an extra 30kg to that. By comparison, a GR Yaris weighs 1,280kg.
Lexus LBX Morizo RR, manual gearstick
Obviously, because the world can’t just let us all have nice things caveat-free, there is a rather big catch. For the time being, the Lexus LBX Morizo RR will only be available in Japan – and if it does make its way to us in Europe, expect it to use the emissions-throttled 276bhp-spec G16E.
If you are lucky enough to be in Japan, you can enter a lottery for one of 100 ‘Bespoke Build’ LBX RRs. This will allow you a little more personalisation for your spec, like changing the colour of the brake callipers.
Oh, and in case you wondered, ‘RR’ stands for Rookie Racing, a nod to Toyota’s Super Taikyu team. Expect to see RR branding on more Gazoo-derived Lexus models in the future.
