Toyota has been discovered to have filed patent drawings with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for a new twin-turbocharged V-8.

First spotted by a member of the GR86 forum, the patent drawings were filed by Toyota on September 3, 2020, and show a V-8 engine with a pair of turbochargers mounted on top in what's known as a “hot-vee” configuration.

Curiously, documentation filed together with the drawings sometimes refer to the turbochargers as superchargers, though the drawings leave little doubt that the engine is a turbocharged design.

Rumors point to the engine featuring a 4.0-liter displacement derived from a pair of 2.0-liter inline-4s sharing a common crank and angled at 90 degrees, plus a 600-plus-hp output.

2021 Lexus LC F spy shots - Image via S. Baldauf/SB-Medien

2021 Lexus LC F spy shots - Image via S. Baldauf/SB-Medien

2021 Lexus LC F spy shots - Image via S. Baldauf/SB-Medien

2021 Lexus LC F spy shots - Image via S. Baldauf/SB-Medien

We should point out that filed patents don't necessarily portend production but Toyota, or more accurately the automaker's Lexus brand, has previously confirmed plans for such an engine.

Back in 2019, Lexus announced plans to offer a twin-turbocharged V-8 in future models, including sports cars. The announcement came about a year after the sighting of a potential LC F prototype (shown above) sporting massive makeshift intakes in its front fascia and Lexus F-styled stacked exhaust tips at its rear.

Lexus even planned to enter an LC race car powered by a twin-turbocharged V-8 in the 2020 24 Hours of Nürburgring but pulled out due to disruptions caused by Covid-19. This led to rumors that the engine might be dead as the focus at Toyota and Lexus turned toward downsized engines and electric powertrains.

Should Toyota end up using the engine, a future Tundra variant to take on the Ram 1500 TRX and upcoming Ford F-150 Raptor R is a possibility. Stay tuned.