Things You May Not Know About the LFA
There are some things about this amazing supercar that aren't common knowledge.
Finding its Niche
As most are well aware, the Lexus LFA didn't start life as a hyper-popular, valuable, and sought-after sports car. In fact, its lofty $375k price tag and performance that lagged a bit behind the competition caused it to start somewhat slow, but the LFA has since become a highly sought-after entity as one of very few N/A V10 cars in existence. However, there are some cool facts about this amazing machine that aren't exactly common knowledge.
Photos: Lexus
Long-Term Development
Amazingly, it took a whopping nine years to bring the LFA to fruition, a process that was drug out far longer than most because the Lexus team responsible for it wanted to make the ultimate supercar - and multiple times over, they had to scrap their work and start over.
Photos: Lexus
Big Changes
There were many monumental changes made during the development process too, including the decision to scrap the car's aluminum frame in favor of a carbon fiber tub, as well as dial in the aerodynamic characteristics of the side mirrors - all finite details for a car that wasn't mass produced by any means.
Photos: Lexus
Special Loom
The LFA was certainly expensive even for its time, but Lexus had plenty of good reasons why it had to sell all 500 units of the car for big bucks. For one, the carbon fiber used on the LFA was put together by a special loom that also played a part in the construction of its carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer monocoque chassis.
Photos: Lexus
Creative Freedom
Lexus also gave its LFA engineers total creative freedom when it came time to design the ultimate supercar, which eventually led to a whopping 500 different characteristics that they wanted to see in the car. One of those decisions was which sort of engine would power the car, which wound up being its newly-developed 4.8-liter V10, of course.
Photos: Lexus
Total Redesign
During testing, however, the team discovered that the thin metal used to make the LFA's body wasn't stiff enough or light enough to meet their standards, which necessitated a time-consuming redesign. It took nearly five years to come up with the final product, which was a new carbon fiber body. That's the sort of thing that few if any, automakers would do, but Lexus was committed to making the very best supercar that it could.
Photos: Lexus
Image Booster
The result was, of course, an iconic machine that's universally celebrated among automotive enthusiasts today, even if it wasn't a sales success or a big-time profit generator for Lexus when it launched. What the LFA did do for the brand, however, was greatly enhance its image with consumers, which is worth every penny it cost to do so.
Photos: Lexus
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