The V8 engine has been all but purged from the core Toyota lineup. Trucks like the Tundra, Sequoia, and the luxurious Lexus LX have been quietly downgraded to twin-turbo V6s. By 2026, the sporty Lexus LC500 was supposed to be the last, lonely eight-cylinder holdout. But apparently, Toyota is not content to let the V8 die a quiet death.
Toyota has confirmed that they are developing a brand-new V8 engine to replace the old 5.0-liter unit. And here is where the story gets deliciously absurd. Toyota’s powertrain chief, Takashi Uehara, confirmed this isn’t just a simple engine swap. It’s an exercise in automotive Frankenstein engineering.
The new 4.0-liter V8 is essentially two of Toyota’s high-performance 2.0-liter inline-four engines fused together. It utilizes twin-turbochargers and a supplementary electric motor in a conventional hybrid setup. The rumored combined output? A frankly ridiculous 834 HP.
Toyota maintains the choice of the hybrid V8 was driven by a desire for extreme reliability, not mere displacement nostalgia. Uehara also dangled the tantalizing possibility of “softer” or “more powerful, tougher” versions being developed for various vehicles, even including the Land Cruiser J300 (or Lexus LX in America).
The engine is firmly aimed at the production version of the glamorous Lexus Sport concept, potentially a high-riding sedan/crossover that might replace the aging LS flagship, and possibly the new ultra-luxury Toyota Century brand.
The current V6 twin-turbo in the Tundra already hits a competitive 437 horsepower and 600 lb-ft of torque. And Toyota is highly motivated to ensure those existing V6 powertrains achieve the brand’s legendary quality, durability, and reliability standards, especially after notable, expensive early production hiccups.
Creating a low-volume, high-performance V8 pickup that could compete with the F-150 Raptor R or Ram 1500 TRX would be fantastically cool, but economically, Toyota is simply not that impulsive. The future of their trucks remains rational, focusing on efficiency through further electrification.
