Here’s what Lexus has planned for its next halo sportscar, which is an interesting mix of the past, the present, and the future.
The original Lexus LFA was a great car but a sales flop. Lexus only made 500 cars, but it was hard to sell them. When it finally came out, it was one of the most misunderstood supercars because it took so long to make and had an old powertrain and a high price.
Now, years later, it is one of the most-wanted cars in the world. This is because people are realizing how pure it is and how important it is to keep analog cars around now that everything is going electric or hybrid. Lexus has shown a sneak peek of the LFA’s replacement, which will be a hybrid/electric car. It’s been ten years since the last LFA car was made.
Since Toyota and Lexus showed off their new concept cars in December 2021, which hinted at the design of the new LFA, everyone has been dying to know more about it. Many people have made guesses about whether it will be a full EV or a hybrid, and whether or not it will have a manual transmission. If you compare it to the now-famous LFA, it has some big shoes to fill. But there’s no question that if it were done right, it would be a huge success for the brand.
An All-Electric Or V-8 Hybrid LFA
The V-10 engine made by Yamaha is an engineering masterpiece and one of the things that makes the Lexus LFA unique. Its soundtrack was the best part. It was carefully tuned to sound like a Formula One engine without being too loud. It was hooked up to a single-clutch six-speed transmission that sent power to the back wheels.
Lexus said at first that its new sports car would be an electric car that would be built on the BEV platform. They said it could go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in less than two seconds and could travel up to 700 kilometers (435 miles).
But this theory has been turned on its head because this video shows Lexus testing a hidden car on a track in Japan. The sound is definitely that of a V-8 engine, and it sounds good when the engine is running at full speed in the rain. It is said to be a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 that will make about 710 horsepower and 600 pound-feet of torque.
With a hybrid drivetrain, these numbers could get closer to 900 horsepower and DIRECT4, which is what Lexus calls four-wheel drive. We know that Lexus doesn’t usually look for power, but since this is their flagship model, it needs this much power to compete with other brands’ flagship models. The most exciting part would be to have the engine co-developed with Yamaha as it has done with cars like the previous LFA and current LC500.
A Manual Lexus LFA Would Be A First
Fewer and fewer cars have manual transmissions, and fewer automakers are even thinking about making them. Even cars that don’t have hybrids don’t have manual transmissions. Companies like Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, and even Nissan’s GTR have all gotten rid of manual transmissions in favor of dual-clutch transmissions, which are much faster. All of this was done to make them faster, but it can sometimes make them feel more like video games than cars.
Lexus wants to make driving fun again by making a new manual transmission that works with an electric powertrain. This is great news because it means that the new LFA could come back with a manual transmission, which would be unique in the super sports car market, where there are almost no manual cars except for limited edition hypercars.
A prototype based on the UX 300e small SUV is already being used to test this transmission. In the end, it will be a software-based system that can be set up to simulate how different cars feel to drive. In the worst case, it might come with a new 10-speed automatic transmission.
The New LFA Will Be Fast
Just based on what is known about its power, the new LFA will be much faster than its predecessor. The old car could reach 60 MPH in 3.7 seconds. It took 11.6 seconds to go a quarter mile, and it could go as fast as 203 MPH. These numbers are good, but powerful sedans of today beat them. But Lexus has put a lot of technology into its new supercar to make it as fast as the competition. The new twin-turbo V-8 will have more power than the old one, which is already an advantage, but it is not enough.
When you add the new hybrid powertrain and DIRECT4 system, you get a very fast car that can compete with the best cars in the world. Lexus thinks that the car will reach 60 MPH in about two seconds. This means that the quarter-mile time could be under nine seconds and the top speed could be over 200 MPH. With those times, this would be the fastest Lexus road car ever, and it might even be the fastest Japanese road car. It would be so fast that calling it “fast” would be an understatement.
The New LFA Will Be A Concept Car Come To Life
Lexus’s design language can be a little strange at times, but their top sports cars never seem to miss the mark. The Lexus LFA, LC500, and even the New Electrified Sport Concept are all beautiful cars that could be flagship models. In the past, the LFA and LC concepts looked a lot like the cars that were made, which wasn’t true for most carmakers. But it looks like the new model will give Lexus a hat trick.
Lexus’s president, Koji Sato, said that the Electrified Sport Concept is a real look at the new model that will come after it. We know this is true because we’ve seen it with other flagship cars. Lexus never changes its original designs, so the new LFA will be a beautiful car and probably the most beautiful sports car in its group. We can also expect to see these design elements in future Lexus cars.
The New Flagship Supercar Will Be Expensive
Supercar looks, power and speed come at a premium. The original LFA started at $375,000, which was a lot of money at the time, but if you added a few extras, it cost over $400,000. Most of today’s top-of-the-line supercars cost much more than that, and even the cheapest hybrid supercars aren’t cheap.
As the top model, the new LFA is likely to start at a price well above $100,000. But it won’t be as expensive as the first one. The Japanese website BestCarWeb says the price will be around 20 million, which is about $140,000 at the time this article was written. Compared to other games, it might seem like a good deal, but it’s still a lot of money, and you have to pay to play if you want one.
Compared to the prices of used LFAs on the market right now, that would be a great price, since great examples sell for more than $1 million. But if Lexus gets enough interest, I think the prices of the new LFA will go through the roof, just like the prices of the new Ford GT did.
Read More – 6 Affordable Sports Cars That Rock A V-8 Engine
