Follow us on TwitterLexus Might Offer Track-Focused LFA
With it’s (very) long-awaited debut coming just last week, reviews of the Lexus LFA are popping up at some of the online car blogs, and Autoblog got it’s review of the LFA up today.
The most interesting part of it all though is the conversation they had with Paul Williamsen, the National Manager of Lexus College about future plans for the LFA.
According to Williamsen, Lexus is considering the prospect of offering a track-focused, decontented LFA. While the car is already lightweight (checking in at 65 percent percent composite, 35% aluminum) the special model would take things even further while also adding features more suitable for the track.
It’s unclear if any of the powertrain components would be changed with such a model as well. This new hasn’t been confirmed but the fact that they are talking about it seriously is telling. Williamsen said that the special LFAs would have to be created out of the existing 500 unit run.
That is funny because the first thing I thought of with the 500 unit run announcement and then the track ready LFA was that they would be introducing special edition models later to extend the run.
Bugatti has done this with the Veyron, adding many special edition models that extend the model run outside the original allocation. It remains to see if they will stick to the 500 unit amount given all the money they have invested into the program. More than that though, is there an interest in a model like this from Lexus’ buyer base? I doubt it.
Tony, initially I was excited to read about Lexus’s entry into the sports car market, and when I saw pictures of the concept model I was really impressed. But the anticipated price of $375,000 per copy has cooled by excitement, why anyone would pass up a Ferrari or Lamborghini to buy a Lexus is beyond me. They should have capped the price at $70,000-$80,000 in order to be competitive against the Nissan GTR and Chevy Corvette.
Definitely agree Austin! The price is just a real downer. I’d rather have the Ferrari 457 Italia or the Lamborghini Gallardo, and you’d have a lot money left over with those two. I think if the price was a lot lower….even $150,000, there would be a lot more excitement about the LFA.