For all the raves the praises the Lexus LF-A has received since it was launched, it looks like Toyota isn’t optimistic about the sales of its new supercar, even saying that it would take a miracle for them to break even.
According to the company, the €375,000 price tag for each of the 500 LF-A’s that were produced wouldn’t be enough to offset the insanely expensive costs – including a plethora of technological features - the company incurred from the development and construction of the supercar.
For all intents and purposes, the materials used on the LF-A have never been used before. Of all the materials used in the car, only five can be found in the rest of the Toyota and Lexus fleet of cars. Toyota even used a carbon fiber-reinforced plastic for the LF-A’s chassis construction and body panels, as well as a powerful 552 bhp 4.8-liter V10 engine. It’s not exactly a typical car, is it?
Despite the expected losses Toyota is expected to sustain, the company made it clear that the primary objective for the creation of the LF-A was to jumpstart interest in the brand and use the supercar as the precursor for Toyota’s mission of producing better vehicles in the future.
So for now, despite the overwhelmingly positive reaction for the Lexus LF-A, Toyota has resigned itself to the growing possibility of not making a profit with the car. Nevertheless, Toyota is optimistic that the technology behind the LF-A will become the measuring stick for which all other Toyota and Lexus vehicles will be based from.
When Lexus unveiled their new super car, the LF-A, at the Tokyo Motor Show last week, it did so with a replica sitting a few meters away from the original super car. And while replicas have become a common sight in auto shows, this particular sculpture of the LF-A is worth mentioning because it was made completely from ice.
The you-have-to-see-to-believe sculpture was the handiwork of renowned Japanese architect Scu Fujimoto and was created out of transparent acrylic boards, which was then polished to give it that ‘cold and icy’ look.
If pictures of the car don’t do justice to the intricate details Fujimoto painstakingly went through to create this sculpture, then we don’t know what else to say. The similarities between the real LF-A and the sculpture is remarkably uncanny and what’s even more mind-boggling is the fact that the
LF-A’s interior – and all the details that come with it – was also created in the sculpture version, down to the smallest of details.
Take our word for it; ‘amazing’ is an understatement.
After officially seeing the new Toyota super car unveiled last week at the Tokyo Motor Show, the good news about the upcoming Lexus LF-A just keeps getting better and better. For those owners that feel a limited production half a million dollar LF-A just isn’t exclusive or hardcore enough, the Japanese automaker is also planning to come out with a track version of their V10 powered rocket ship.
The track version will be a more intense version of the LF-A complete with a "harder, track-tuned trim", however no changes will made to the new car’s engine and drive train. "The LFA is such a bespoke machine that buyers can specify pretty much what they want," said a source inside the Japanese luxury automaker. "If they choose to ask for it to be stripped out and built with track use in mind, there’s no reason why it won’t be possible." It is just that sort of tailored fit that continues to impress us about the new Lexus LF-A.
The new super car is powered by a 4.8 liter V10 that delivers a maximum output of 560 HP at rather lofty 9,000 RPM and a peak torque of 354 lb-ft at 6,800 RPM. The intense surge of power allows the LF-A to sprint from 0 to 60 MPH in just 3.7 seconds and reach a Lamborghini like top speed of 202 MPH.
Nobody knows the ins-and-outs of a Toyota-produced sports car better than Hiromu Naruse. Regarded as the Japanese carmaker’s resident “test driver”, Naruse has been behind the wheel of some of our favorite Toyota sports cars, including the MR2, the Supra, and lately, the Lexus LF-A.
In this video, Naruse jumps behind the wheel of an LF-A and takes all of us on a scintillating lap around of the car arounf the Homestead-Miami Speedway. You might be surprised to see just further along Naruse is in the calendar of life, but despite being older than most of us, he still knows a thing or two about taming these beasts of sports cars out on a racetrack.
Watch the video and enjoy Naruse bring the horses out of the Lexus LF-A.
After revealing the official images and specifications concerning the latest offering from Lexus, the new LF-A supercar, The Japanese automaker is also letting consumers have a little fun and play around with the new super car right from your desktop with their latest bit of innovative software, the LF-A configurator. The program allows you to customize the new sports car in a variety of manners to suite your individual taste including everything from exterior colors to wheel options. So even if you can’t quite buy one just yet, or your budget may not permit it, at least you can have some fun before bursting your creative bubble.
The LF-A is powered by a 4.8 liter V10 that delivers a maximum output of 560 HP at 9,000 RPM and a peak torque of 354 lb-ft at 6,800 RPMThe LF-A can sprint from 0 to 60 MPH in just 3.7 seconds and won’t stop until it reaches a top speed of 202 MPH. If you want to have a go at designing your own Lexus LF-A super car, follow the link below.
It has been less than 24 hours since Lexus officially unveiled their latest super car, the LF-A. However the crack team of automotive journalists at AutoCar have already had a chance to take a closer look at what makes this machine tick. According to them, the LF-A quite possibly the best performance machine ever built, but you can watch the video to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth.
Reminder: the Lexus LF-A is powered by a 4.8 liter V10 that delivers a maximum output of 560 HP at 9,000 RPM and a peak torque of 354 lb-ft at 6,800 RPM. It sprints from 0 to 60 MPH in just 3.7 seconds and won’t stop until it reaches a top speed of 202 MPH.
Even if there are just a few hours since the official launch of the 2010 Lexus LF-A, we already got the first tuning for the Japanese supercar. And it comes from 889speedshop. There will be only 5 units customized and the price for the package will be $65,000.
The tuner’s package will add lighter carbon-fiber hood and fender skins with an additional duct just ahead of the door, a revised front fascia, a carbon fiber splitter and hollow core spokes for the wheels.
Also, thanks to a freer-flowing titanium exhaust system and intake and a light ECU reprogram the V10 engine delivers an extra 20 hp.
It’s finally official! The Lexus LF-A has just made its world debut at the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show. The Toyota built super car will be limited to a production run of only 500 units, each priced at $375,000. The Japanese luxury automaker is already taking orders, however the first deliveries won’t be made until early 2011.
As you might already know, the LF-A is powered by a 4.8 liter V10 that delivers a maximum output of 560 HP at 9,000 RPM and a peak torque of 354 lb-ft at 6,800 RPM, with 90% of the total torque being available between the 3,700 RPM mark and the super car’s 9,000 RPM red line. As a result of such a road torque curve, the LF-A can sprint from 0 to 60 MPH in just 3.7 seconds and won’t stop until it reaches a top speed of 202 MPH.
In order to ensure that the LF-A handles as well as it goes in a straight line, the Lexus design team incorporated lightweight materials like aluminum alloys, magnesium alloys and titanium alloys as well as some carbon fiber to ensure that the LF-A is as rigid as possible while maintaining a low curb weight. Even the new super car’s power plant is compact in size, smaller than a conventional V8, which allowed the Toyota engineers to design the LF-A with the optimal weight distribution and an exceptional power to weight ratio. Thus giving Nissan and their GT-R super car something to watch out for.
Surprise surprise, even though the future Lexus LF-A super car is scheduled to make its world debut in only a few hours from now at the Tokyo Motor Show, the next speed machine from Toyota was spotted right under our noses right here in Miami! While you satiate over these unofficial images, stay tuned to Top Speed for more information from the LF-A’s official unveiling from the land of the rising sun.
From the images it looks like this particular LF-A is a fully street legal production vehicle complete with a set of California license plates. There was even a lucky group of Totoya mechanics who got a good look at the underbelly of a flat black LF-A with its carbon fiber tub and other high tech hardware like carbon ceramic brake rotors hidden away underneath a set of 20 inch wheels wrapped in high speed rubber. The production version will be powered by a 5.0 Liter V10 engine that will send 550 HP from the car’s nose to the rear wheels via a 6 speed semi-automatic transmission, geared so that Toyota’s future super car will be able to hit a top speed of over 218 MPH. Perhaps we will be lucky enough to see the super car in the flesh at the upcoming South Florida International Auto Show later on this week.
There are times when journalists have a propensity to sensationalize things, especially when they’re trying to get across a certain demographic, like, say, the auto industry. On the flip side, journalists also have a responsibility to be as unbiased as they can be, knowing that their responsibilities as the media to call it down the line goes far beyond their own personal preferences.
Recently, Dutch journalist Thomas Bangma was invited by Lexus to take their new supercar, the LF-A, out for a spin. Normally, such an opportunity would make most journalists salivate and wet their pants at the chance to get behind the wheel of a supercar. But Bangma has been there before having driven a McLaren F1 and a Pagani Zonda in the past. So, you could say that the bar has been set pretty high. So after taking the LF-A out fir a drive, what does Bangma have to say about the LF-A?
“The car is the best car I have ever driven in all my years as a car journalist. It is an absolute gem.”
Take his word for it; the man knows what he is talking about.
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