Toyota spent a decade building a supercar it never expected to profit from
Work on the Lexus LFA started in early 2000. Nearly ten years, several concepts and a switch from aluminium to carbon fibre later, only 500 were built, about 20 a month, each assembled by hand and fitted with a V10 carrying its builder's signature. Analysts never expected the car to make money, and Lexus didn't seem to mind.
The project, codenamed TXS, was meant to show off what Toyota and its luxury brand could do. A first prototype ran in June 2003, and disguised test cars became a regular sight at Germany's Nürburgring from October 2004. The first concept, designed with Italian stylist Leonardo Fioravanti, appeared at the Detroit show in January 2005 as a pure design study with no production plans.
Then the engineers changed course. To improve the power-to-weight ratio they swapped the aluminium frame for a carbon-fibre tub, lengthening development, and they reportedly borrowed expertise from Toyota's Formula One team. A sleeker second concept arrived in 2007 and a roadster in 2008. In August 2009 the new chief executive, Akio Toyoda, confirmed production, and the finished car debuted at that October's Tokyo Motor Show, marking the brand's 20th anniversary.
The numbers justified the fuss. The 4.8-litre V10, built with Yamaha, made 553 horsepower, enough for 60 mph in 3.6 seconds and a top speed of 325 kilometres per hour. About 65 percent of the body was carbon-fibre-reinforced polymer, with aluminium, titanium and magnesium elsewhere. The point was partly experimental: Lexus saw the car as a testbed for mass-producing carbon fibre. Online, a configurator offered more than 30 billion combinations of colours and trim.
Buyers were hand-picked and paid a base price of $375,000. In North America 150 cars were first offered only on two-year leases so owners couldn't flip them for a quick profit, and racing driver Scott Pruett gave prospective customers demonstration drives. Assembly ran from December 2010 to December 2012 at Toyota's Motomachi plant in Aichi, with the last car finished in white with the Nürburgring package. A planned convertible was cancelled after just two were built.
Source: Lexus LFA
