FYI

the official name will be Lexus LFA (no dash)

price will be in the $375K range ; deposits will ONLY be taken after the initial introduction at the Tokyo show

limited production of 500 units: divided equally between Japan, USA, and rest of the world. two year production span, 20 cars a month

there will be 20 color choices, and more than 60 interior wood/leather combinations available: you can even choose the caliper color! you will have 6 months to finalize your choices

cars will be assembled in Motomachi plant. No assembly line. Cars will be on cradles- proceeding from one work station to another

the V10 engine is cast at the same foundry Toyota uses for the F1 parts, majority of suspension components are aluminum, as well as other hardware

the engines are assembled and tuned by Yamaha

over and above basic tuning methods, Yamaha has actually employed "acoustic" technologies to enhance performance and sound characteristics

the car will not be loud (like the AMGs), less visceral than other European models but will carry a very impressive exhaust note

between the engine compartment and the cockpit- there is a membrane that will allow some feedback to the driver- yes turn the radio down!

the final suspension settings were signed-off, just 2 months ago...

 

The chief engineer said that the engine was all in house............

 

Interesting details, if true. So that means the engine was designed by Toyota and some help from it's F1 team and Yamaha, while Yamaha also helped to tune them.

A cradle-workstation assembly process is how other supercars are built. That means a big percentage of the car will be hand-built.

Acoustic technologies have been hinted at before. I wonder what new technologies is the engine using for performance, if any? How high can the engine rev in theory, and what is the redline? Do you know roughly what HP figures the production car will have? What about top speed ?

Very interesting that suspension settings were signed off so recently, that means final data for suspension tuning was based off of the 24 Hours of Nurburgring race, as well as regular 'Ring testing.

 

I can vouch for this to be very very very reliable info.

 

Well he actually mentioned the engine was in-house of the Toyota Group. It depends if you consider Yamaha part of the Toyota Group . I'm not sure if Yamaha is officially part of the Toyota Group or not.

 

Yamaha has a very long and rich history with Toyota from the beginning. They both hold shares of each other's stock.

 

So I take it then that the Chief Engineer's comments are in-fact correct, as are these comments; Yamaha can then be considered part of the Toyota Group.

 

From Wikipedia: "In 2000, Toyota and Yamaha Corporation made a capital alliance where Toyota paid Yamaha Corporation 10.5 billion yen for a 5 per cent share in Yamaha Motor Company while Yamaha and Yamaha Motor each bought 500,000 shares of Toyota stock in return."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha_Motor_Company

 

Thanks TOYSPORT for this interesting and tantalizing information!

 

I just feel like 500 units is such a waste...to build a car like this and then have only 500 people be able to enjoy it.

I wish they could do more like 500 a year over 5 years.

 

Most of them might spend their lifetime in garages/museums too!

 

Forgot to add, with all those exterior color and interior choices, looks like the L-Select customization will be available for the LFA. This makes the car a true custom, built-to-order car.

 

They will probably produce 550 cars, not 500.
If you look at the http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytjOyB3VwIo he seems to say fivehundred and something more. Taken into account Lexus was planning on renaming the LF-A into SS550, which we all know was not referring to engine displacement (should be 480), my guess is that this number reflects the total production, not hp (it will have more than 550hp).

While this number is arguably too low for us enthusiasts we can only hope Lexus also makes 550 pieces of the convertible LF-A, like Alfa Romeo did with the 8C, and give priority to Lexus owners.
I don't want to see the majority of the LF-A's end up in the hands of the ultra-rich who will probably drive it once a year and leave it in the garage next to a dozen other sportscars settling dust.

 

It costs Bugatti $5 million quid to produce a Bugatti and yet it sells for $850k quid. It seems to me like Lexus is trying to do this, with the development costing several billion dollars, and perhaps more than a million dollars to produce the car, yet it will only cost a fraction of that. I still think that Lexus is aiming a bit too high for its first 'supercar.'

 

The next generation SC and SC-F better be one cracker of a ride...........