Truth about cars: Behind the scenes in the Lexus LFA factory
07-08-12 | 11:19 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 9,967
Likes: 2,508
From: Calgary, AB
Truth about cars: Behind the scenes in the Lexus LFA factory
It will be a 5 part series. Going to be a very interesting read.
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/201...nd-the-scenes/
Last edited by 05RollaXRS; 07-08-12 at 11:27 PM.
07-09-12 | 03:47 PM
#3
Thread Starter
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 9,967
Likes: 2,508
From: Calgary, AB
07-10-12 | 12:53 PM
#4
Lexus Connoisseur
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 19,802
Likes: 534
From: USA
The Making Of The Lexus LFA Supercar. An Inside Report
Chapter 2: In The Clean Room.
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/201...he-clean-room/
Chapter 2: In The Clean Room.
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/201...he-clean-room/
07-10-12 | 08:05 PM
#5
Pole Position
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 2,388
Likes: 123
From: IL
This is a great find, thanks Rolla
Let's project completion of the run.
They watched a bunch of fabric become #424.
If this was shot in June, and they build roughly 20 cars a month, #500 will be done in October.
I believe the original plan was a 25 month duration run starting in December 2010.
We know they started early, I believe in November, so this estimate would have them finishing 2 month early (so they took one month less than planned even though they were impacted by the natural disaster).
Let's project completion of the run.
They watched a bunch of fabric become #424.
If this was shot in June, and they build roughly 20 cars a month, #500 will be done in October.
I believe the original plan was a 25 month duration run starting in December 2010.
We know they started early, I believe in November, so this estimate would have them finishing 2 month early (so they took one month less than planned even though they were impacted by the natural disaster).
07-10-12 | 09:25 PM
#6
Thread Starter
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 9,967
Likes: 2,508
From: Calgary, AB
And hopefully they will start working on LFA II 
This is a great find, thanks Rolla
Let's project completion of the run.
They watched a bunch of fabric become #424.
If this was shot in June, and they build roughly 20 cars a month, #500 will be done in October.
I believe the original plan was a 25 month duration run starting in December 2010.
We know they started early, I believe in November, so this estimate would have them finishing 2 month early (so they took one month less than planned even though they were impacted by the natural disaster).
Let's project completion of the run.
They watched a bunch of fabric become #424.
If this was shot in June, and they build roughly 20 cars a month, #500 will be done in October.
I believe the original plan was a 25 month duration run starting in December 2010.
We know they started early, I believe in November, so this estimate would have them finishing 2 month early (so they took one month less than planned even though they were impacted by the natural disaster).
07-10-12 | 09:27 PM
#7
Lexus Connoisseur
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 19,802
Likes: 534
From: USA
This is a great find, thanks Rolla
Let's project completion of the run.
They watched a bunch of fabric become #424.
If this was shot in June, and they build roughly 20 cars a month, #500 will be done in October.
I believe the original plan was a 25 month duration run starting in December 2010.
We know they started early, I believe in November, so this estimate would have them finishing 2 month early (so they took one month less than planned even though they were impacted by the natural disaster).
Let's project completion of the run.
They watched a bunch of fabric become #424.
If this was shot in June, and they build roughly 20 cars a month, #500 will be done in October.
I believe the original plan was a 25 month duration run starting in December 2010.
We know they started early, I believe in November, so this estimate would have them finishing 2 month early (so they took one month less than planned even though they were impacted by the natural disaster).
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07-11-12 | 10:18 AM
#8
Lead Lap
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 727
Likes: 0
From: ontario
I really hope there will be some clues to this at the end of the series. It would be such as waste of all skills and knowledge learned while building the LFA, notwithstanding trickled down techs of course. However, unless LFA 2 is priced for profit, I am not sure how they can justify another halo car, unless it was already baked in from the beginning 
07-11-12 | 10:43 AM
#10
Lexus Connoisseur
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 19,802
Likes: 534
From: USA
The Making Of The Lexus LFA Supercar. An Inside Report
Chapter 3: Call Me Names
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/201...call-me-names/
Chapter 3: Call Me Names
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/201...call-me-names/
07-11-12 | 09:52 PM
#11
Thread Starter
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 9,967
Likes: 2,508
From: Calgary, AB
Notice the hidden references to the blue prototype LFA in the part 3 of the article. The 680 code reference gives a hint that they might reveal some interesting tidbit about that prototype.
07-12-12 | 05:31 AM
#12
Lead Lap
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 727
Likes: 0
From: ontario
07-12-12 | 06:06 AM
#14
Pole Position
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 2,388
Likes: 123
From: IL
Day 4 is up
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/201...ance-of-power/
Factoids: Lexus has dyno data for every car, there are 4 boxes of build data per car and 7 bundles of joy pop off the assembly line per week
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/201...ance-of-power/
Factoids: Lexus has dyno data for every car, there are 4 boxes of build data per car and 7 bundles of joy pop off the assembly line per week
07-12-12 | 07:41 AM
#15
Lexus Fanatic
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Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 13,441
Likes: 1,064
From: Under an IS F since 2008
I found this to be a very informative FACT as well..!!!
*********************************************************************************************************************
The "Official" Definition of LF-A & LFA
In the bus, we talk about the name of the LFA. There are all kinds of apocryphal stories of how the name came about and what it stands for,
that it means “Lexus Future Advance”, or whatever. Tanahashi say it is all nonsense, and as I listen to him talk, I know that I am finally hearing the true story.
“Like all cars, the LFA started as an internal project, code 680,” Tanahashi says. Now you know what the 680 means in Tanahashi’s diary.
“At the Detroit Motor Show 2005, we showed a concept. We needed a name. At Lexus, concept cars for the motor show follow a strict name regime.
LF for ‘Lexus future’, then a dash, followed by two letters. I racked my brain for a good two letter combination. I could not find one, and settled on A.”
The concept was shown as LF-A. Four years later, Tanahashi gave the name equally short shrift..
“In 2009, we announced the car at the Tokyo motor show, and we needed a real name.
Again, I had a hard time. I thought, why not simply remove the hyphen? The LFA was born.”
Many decisions in the car industry happen that way. Rich and deep symbolism often is an after-the-fact addition born from an insatiable quest for meaning.
PS: With all the innuendo and supposition about the Tiffany blue LFA, how could anyone miss the fact that the original project code was 680, the same number 680 that was on the license plate of the blue LFA?
It’s good they did. “It was one of those coincidences,” I am told.
*********************************************************************************************************************
So there you have it...
The Simple Truth and to the point!! 
~ Joe Z
*********************************************************************************************************************
The "Official" Definition of LF-A & LFA
In the bus, we talk about the name of the LFA. There are all kinds of apocryphal stories of how the name came about and what it stands for,
that it means “Lexus Future Advance”, or whatever. Tanahashi say it is all nonsense, and as I listen to him talk, I know that I am finally hearing the true story.
“Like all cars, the LFA started as an internal project, code 680,” Tanahashi says. Now you know what the 680 means in Tanahashi’s diary.
“At the Detroit Motor Show 2005, we showed a concept. We needed a name. At Lexus, concept cars for the motor show follow a strict name regime.
LF for ‘Lexus future’, then a dash, followed by two letters. I racked my brain for a good two letter combination. I could not find one, and settled on A.”
The concept was shown as LF-A. Four years later, Tanahashi gave the name equally short shrift..
“In 2009, we announced the car at the Tokyo motor show, and we needed a real name.
Again, I had a hard time. I thought, why not simply remove the hyphen? The LFA was born.”
Many decisions in the car industry happen that way. Rich and deep symbolism often is an after-the-fact addition born from an insatiable quest for meaning.
PS: With all the innuendo and supposition about the Tiffany blue LFA, how could anyone miss the fact that the original project code was 680, the same number 680 that was on the license plate of the blue LFA?
It’s good they did. “It was one of those coincidences,” I am told.
*********************************************************************************************************************
So there you have it...
The Simple Truth and to the point!! ~ Joe Z