Lexus goes high-performance with LFA supercar

By Special to the Star-Telegram

The first supercar from Lexus won’t go on sale until early 2011, but visitors to a couple of auto shows this month and next will get to see the car as it makes its North American debut.

Toyota’s luxury division will begin production of the 552-horsepower LFA two-seat coupe in Japan in December 2010, and just 500 of them will be made, the company said.

It will appear first at the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show in Las Vegas later this month, then at the Los Angeles Auto Show in December.

In January, it will be on display at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit; in February at the Chicago Auto Show; in March at the Dallas Auto Show; and in April at the New York Auto Show.

So far, Dallas is the only Texas show scheduled to get the car next year.

LFA production will run for just two years, Lexus says, but I suspect that could be extended or a successor could be developed if there is a much greater demand for the car than that initial total.

In spite of new, tougher U.S. fuel-economy mandates on the horizon, several supercars – loosely defined as limited-production, high-powered sports cars – have been introduced recently or are in development for sale in this country.

The Chevy Corvette’s latest supercar – the 638-horsepower ZR1 – came to market last year, as did Nissan’s 480-horsepower GT-R.

The ’Vette has a 6.2-liter V-8 engine and can reach speeds in excess of 200 mph, while the GT-R has a twin-turbo 3.8-liter V-6 and a top speed of 193 mph.

Lexus’ supercar was developed from a series of three concept vehicles called the LF-A, all displayed at the Detroit auto show. The first was shown in 2005, the second in 2007, and the third one, a convertible version, in 2008.

Toyota rolled out the production version at the Tokyo Motor Show in October.

The LFA will come with a 4.8-liter V-10 engine and rear-wheel drive, and has a top speed of 202 mph, Lexus says.

Lexus will hand-build all of the cars, and they will have a body made of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer, which is both strong and lightweight.

The company says the car was "carefully developed from a blank canvas by a small and dedicated team of hand-picked engineers (who) pushed every possible dynamic boundary."

"The development of the LFA was unlike any other Lexus," Mark Templin, Lexus division group vice president and general manager, said in an announcement of the U.S. auto-show appearances.

"Minute details were engineered to provide an engaging and serious super car that delivers impressive performance on and off the race track," he said.

Each car will be "assembled to customer order, offering an once-in-a-lifetime chance to be part of a small, exclusive group of individuals," Templin said.

No price has been announced yet, but expect it to be in the neighborhood of $100,000.

Production will take place at the "Lexus LFA Works" in the Motomachi Plant in Toyota City, "at a rate of no more than 20 per month," the company said.

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