If you watch television- you've probably seen the commercial by now. A sports/supercar looking thing in white, in a white sound room- sound baffles on the walls... It's strapped to a speed dyno- a microphone is aimed at its unique tri-tipped, center mounted rear exhaust.
A champagne glass is placed in front of a speaker (which is attached to the aforementioned microphone for all your audiophiles out there....)
The car runs through the gears- shrilling, screaming, wanting to rip from its moorings as the microphone records the noise.
The loud engine/exhaust noise breaks the glass.
It's a play on the first (rather successful too I might add) Lexus commercials twenty years ago- when they put stacks of champagne glasses on the hood of the car as it ran on a similar dyno...
Okay- what I just described (maybe in too much detail) is the commercial for the 2011 Lexus LFA- their bid into the world class supercar, exotic sports car arena.
Yes, a Lexus supercar- the kind of cars Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini and maybe a dozen others have done, or tried to do for decades.
The LFA has supposedly been in the works since 2000 and finally now, the car is nearing ready for production. It's the latest addition to the Lexus "F" performance brand.
For years it's been a prototype and racing study- and those "in the know" (I'm not one of them- tells you how much I know about cars... HA!) have known about this car for years.
And maybe, just maybe like the Nissan GT-R "Skyline" it has even made its debut on one of those game console franchises?
I don't know, I don't play games...
Well, neither does Lexus, too apparently.
The LFA is their halo car into finally producing a world class sports car? As if they didn't already build a world class vehicle as it was, this is supposed to be their defining moment in a market that is 1) not only competitive in product but 2) almost impossible to penetrate in panache and 3) not exactly profitable, en mass, as a business venture.
Dozens of manufacturers have built ultra-high-performance "supercars" yet only a handful have done it successfully, continuously... Continuously enough to become cultural legends and icons- like Ferrari... And successfully enough to have not gone bankrupt in the process- like most of the others.
The development, the materials, the production and the technologies are expensive to say the least- many manufacturers won't risk the costs to build a low-volume car only a handful will ever consider buying.
Look at Honda with the Acura NSX. That was a supercar twenty years ago- they built the thing in low volume for something like a decade, probably lost money on every one of them.
Notice the lack of a true NSX successor? Where is it?
Supercars- it's just bad business. But it's great PR!
I don't have the time, nor the interest to go into every minute detail of the Lexus LFA. But I will delve into little, unique things...
Well, they're not so unique- they're done elsewhere but now, finally Lexus is doing it.
(Like most everything else- everything Lexus has done; has been done by someone else before- sad- but true...)
-202 Miles-Per-Hour
-Zero-to-60 in 3.6 Seconds
-4.6-Liter V10 Engine, 550 Horses
-Carbon Fiber Construction & Underpinnings
-Ceramic Brakes
-500 Will Be Made, Only 20 Per Month
-Custom Configuration, Colors, Swatches, Etc, Etc, Etc... Over 30,000,000,000 Different Possibilities! (Yes, Thirty Billion according to some sources!)
It's going to be "exclusive," it's going to come "anyway you want it..." (within parameters, I'm sure) and it's supposed to redefine Lexus as a world class super car brand- smashing the glasses, for a company that was so inclined to stack-them-up on their idle hoods.
But I fail to see the seriousness of advertising on national television a sports car starting at $375,000.
Starting at $375,000. (There- I said it again.)
That's f'n crazy (with a Lexus capital F), and maybe even a little rude, or assuming if you ask me.
You want to be like Ferrari and Lamborghini? You want the world of ultra-high-end exclusive clientele to take you seriously- don't be caught dead on a 30-second television spot during the evening news.
I mean- Ferrari and Lamborghini never had to advertise- why does Lexus?
But what Lexus is doing, much like Ferrari has done with some of their more expensive, exclusive models- they're leasing these LFAs to the planned 150 North American customers for two years to prevent them from that initial market arbitrage that happens when something like this comes out.
They don't want a secondary market coming up, re-selling these LFAs for multiples more. They're controlling the market for $375,000-plus, plus, plus Lexus vehicles- as if there's really a market for one.
Then again- there's always a market for "Look What I Have..."
The car will supposedly be available for outright purchase in London, in an exclusive Park Lane Lexus agency for those who absolutely, positively have to own it outright.
Knowing what I do about these sorts of things- you want to lease this car- it's not going to be a screaming value on the used car market in a few years anyway... Cars like these, unless they're particular, rare, Italian supercars- don't hold their value well to be considered decent stores of value.
The car's impressive- it is. It looks good, but it does look like a modern Nissan Z or something similar with a VeilSide or Junction Produce kit on it.
Maybe I'm just painting with too broad a stroke here...
Maybe so- but the Lexus LFA is nothing so special, or unique in a segment where the sky, and the budget, knows no-limits.
If Lexus wants to impress me- they would have built the LFA for $150,000- because really, that's what the Lexus brand of a F-errari is really worth to my poor, TV commercial watching ass.
The LFA may be Lexus' latest attempt to their Pursuit of Perfection but it will always be the pursuit of something they'll never really be in a world that has been, since others have done it better... And more expensive even still.
Don't ask me what I know.
I think it looks like a big, fancy Celica if you ask me.
See what a good reputation does for you?
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