After mixing it up for a few years with the likes of Ferrari and Lamborghini, the Lexus LFA supercar is steering toward retirement, with the last production model leaving the factory in December 2012.
The LFA engendered a lot of good will for Lexus from the racing and automotive worlds, which was fortunate for a company whose consumer offerings tend to get relegated someplace between "boring" and "less than remarkable." With the LFA, Lexus strived to build "not just a supercar, but create an unprecedented driver's car," as the video below explains.
The company succeeded in that goal and now they're looking to leverage not only the Lexus LFA name, but perhaps some of its technology as well, to help rehabilitate the image of the vehicles it actually sells to normal people.
The LFA tribute video concludes with the text, "In December of 2012, the last one ever built rolled off the assembly line. Some would see this as the end. For Lexus, this is only the beginning." The video then segues into a brief montage that features a few Lexus sedans racing around, with the implication being that LFA DNA will live on in the company's mainstream consumer lineup.
Obviously, take that last part with a grain of salt. Do not expect Lexus to roll out an IS with 400 horsepower.
Lexus LFA: Specs
Boasting a truly remarkable specs sheet and a base price tag of $445,000, the Lexus LFA was the most expensive street-legal car ever produced in Japan.
The LFA features a 4.8-liter V10 engine that generates 552 horsepower, 354 lb.-ft of torque and redlines at 9000 rpm. It has a top speed of 203 mph and goes from 0 to 62 in 3.7 seconds.
When Edmunds' Insideline was given an LFA to test for a week, it matched it up against the Porsche GT2 RS on the racetrack. After four races, the match ended in a draw, with two wins apiece for each car.
