Being such a masterpiece, I always wonder why the LFA didn’t do well when it first came out. Yet now you see them selling for damn near $1M. It’s like Van Gogh. No one appreciated the work of art until it was gone. But why?
Being such a masterpiece, I always wonder why the LFA didn’t do well when it first came out. Yet now you see them selling for damn near $1M. It’s like Van Gogh. No one appreciated the work of art until it was gone. But why?
Spent an extra 5 years redeveloping the car (from aluminium to a carbon fibre structure) which ballooned the price to a whopping 375,000 USD. This was meant to cover for the extra time needed to develop, as well as paying off the carbon fibre loom that Toyota/Lexus developed in their legendary Motomachi factory. Even then, they still did not break even.
The LFA was meant to be a monster around the time when it was supposed released in the mid-2000’s. But in 2010 when it was actually released, it was a great performer on track (heck it basically shattered the Nürburgring Nordschleife lap record), but the single-clutch and high-revving V10 (with its lack of torque) made it slower than contemporary supercars in a straight line.
Despite the legendary levels of engineering behind it (that rich people at the time were not privy to), they didn’t think a Lexus supercar could be any good (boy were they wrong).
The reason why the LFA is held to a godlike status now is because people have come to the realization the LFA is an expression of pure and genuine automotive excellence, from a manufacturer that advertises on being on the “relentless pursuit of perfection”.
And yeah… it sounds fucking insane too.