Work on designing the car began in late 2010 when early designs of its chassis were presented to Toyota Motorsport. The project was halted briefly after the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in March 2011 although the building of the car was approved six months later. The carbon fibre monocoque was constructed at Toyota Motorsport's headquarters in Cologne which built 84% of the chassis, and performed aerodynamic development of the design in its wind tunnel. Designers were influenced by findings from outdated Dome chassis and impressions from current Audi and Peugeot monocoques. The suspension setup consisted of an independent double wishbone system with pushrod actuated dampers, and was designed to accommodate wide tyres. Its engine, a naturally aspirated petrol V8 power unit, was mounted at a 90-degree angle, and produced . Toyota engineers elected to base the engine on their Super GT project instead of constructing a new one. The six-speed sequential gearbox unit was transverse-mounted to the engine and the brakes were constructed from carbon materials.