TRDFantasy

Ferraris are very rare yet almost everyone knows what a Ferrari engine note sounds like. Never underestimate the power of marketing. Toyota is very talented when it comes to marketing, so even if people never see an LF-A on the road you can be sure Toyota will make the LF-A's engine note known.

encore888

Interesting. A 570 hp Lexus, wow...and the 416 from the IS-F is huge already.

BTW, even though the comparisons are lopsided/wrong class, the GT-R/LF-A stuff makes me think that Lexus will not adopt the rumored 'GT-F' moniker.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

I dont think 'everyone' knows. But that really doesn't matter because very few people actually buy them or even care about them. But Ferrari has decades of racing experience and a very single-minded focus on street legal race cars. For those people that want an exotic car with all that heritage and uniqueness, they know where to look.

And Ferrari doesn't also make boring cars like an ES350. I'm struggling to wrap my head around what exactly the LF-A will do for Lexus' image since it's SO FAR OUT of everything they've done. But it will be interesting!

TRDFantasy

It does matter, because even though very few people buy Ferraris, A LOT of people admire and respect Ferrari. Their racing heritage plays a part in that, but also their marketing. Most people dream of owning a Ferrari; it's a dream car, even if they've never seen one on the road before. Ferrari's incredible reputation has been greatly helped by word-of-mouth from people all over the world, regardless of the fact that most people will never own a Ferrari. I highly disagree that most people "don't care" about Ferrari. Whenever a discussion among people about dream cars occurs, almost always Ferrari is included.

Take a look at Audi and the R8. Most people have never seen an R8 on the the street, yet thanks to Audi's marketing it's already helping to change Audi's brand image. Audi also happens to sell "boring" cars like the A3.

The fact that the LF-A is such a far out product for Lexus is EXACTLY why it will help change it's reputation and image. The NSX for Acura was a far out product when originally launched, and look at what the NSX has done for Honda and the Acura brand. Almost 20 years since the NSX was launched, and Honda still continues to see the benefits to its brand image. A lot of enthusiasts *still* hold Honda in high regard, almost entirely because of the NSX (and to a lesser extent the S2000). Honda's regarded reputation among enthusiasts in the UK for instance was almost entirely established thanks to the NSX.

Most people will be shocked by the LF-A; shocked that Lexus could offer such a product. The "shock factor" is what will dramatically help to improve the brand image and reputation of Lexus. You can also be sure that Lexus will go racing with the production LF-A. It's already racing a test mule at the 24 hrs of Nurburgring.

Vladi

I soo wanna see that Evo vs. GT-R test BTW

LexFather

I soooo want to see that chick

Faraaz23

Has Lexus registered any names for patents for this car yet? It seems as there almost has to be an F somewhere in the name.

speedflex

Some spy shots of the interior and carbon fiber roof.
http://www.motorauthority.com/news/s...n-fiber-cabin/

MPLexus301

iTrader: (3)

Holy cow...it's almost 100% identical to the concept. I really thought they would change the interior a lot but it's clear that they haven't. It looks great IMO!

speedflex

What's really interesting is that the article says the coupe will be out early next year.

xcntuatd77

for all we know the mule being driven is just that - another concept car identical to what was shown last year at detroit..

the interior pics are identical to the concept - so hey coul djust be very well be driving that and only NOW have we seen these picstures. theres no guarantee that this is the production interior.

i have yet to see a concept car interior turn production by THAT much similarity between the two.

honestly - i would love to see this as the interior - but in all honesty chances are very slim.

XeroK00L

I would love to see at least this LCD-based instrument cluster to make it. It's just so utterly coool.

XeroK00L

Thanks. Glad they're sticking to the concept interior. Hopefully the exterior will resemble to 2nd concept too.

XeroK00L

One main difference I see in the test mule's interior is in the placeholders for the air vents in the center, which aren't available in the concepts. And hopefully the CF dash will be flush like in the concept. As it is right now in the test mule the CF dash looks pretty tacky.

TRDFantasy

These pics may help some of the skepticism people have about Toyota's goal of having the production car weigh under 3000lbs. The interior looks to be predominantly made out of carbon fiber, which means a significant savings in weight.

This is consistent with many of the rumours coming out of Japan. Although it was earlier rumoured that a production LF-A would be shown at last year's Tokyo Auto Show, rumours since 2005 have stated a 2009 debut for the LF-A. Given that Toyota is racing the LF-A at a 24 hour endurance race, I'm quite sure the mechanicals are nearly finalized, if not completely. The interior also looks to be nearly finalized. A 2009 debut for the LF-A sounds probable and reasonable, and even if that is wrong I would expect the LF-A to debut no later than 2010.

This reminds of when people said that there was no way Lexus would make the production car have the stunning exterior of the concept. From the looks of things, the production exterior will be *very* close to concept, and I think the interior will be as well. The main reason is that the interior from the beginning never looked too futuristic or outlandish; it always looked production-ready.