Toyota debuted two new supercars, including a new Lexus LFA!
If you think you’ve seen this car before, don’t adjust your screen — you have. This is, in fact, the brand-new Lexus LFA, and we now have much more information on what will comprise the brand’s next-generation supercar. Over the past few months, it’s effectively been hiding in plain sight as the so-called “Sport Concept”, but didn’t officially get the LFA name until now (so it’s not the LFR, as we thought it might be earlier). This new LFA debuted alongside the Toyota GR GT, so we now have two supercars from the Japanese automaker, and now we also know why they emerged as a duo. While this bears a Lexus badge and is billed as a hypercar, it is…an EV.
Technically, this Lexus LFA is still a “concept”, though Lexus did finally confirm it would follow what the Sport Concept hinted at when it goes into full production. It will in fact be electric, while Toyota’s new flagship supercar will be the one packing the twin-turbo V8 hybrid powertrain. Lexus’ version will also go on sale after the GR GT, which itself is poised to hit showrooms later next year and potentially rock a half-million-dollar price tag, or at least somewhere in that ball park.
So, what else do we now know about the new Lexus LFA?
Even more than a decade after it rolled into the history books, the first-generation Lexus LFA enjoys iconic status, thanks in large part to its screaming V10 engine. Obviously, that’s not the case with this new car being an EV, but that doesn’t mean it’s lacking in crazy design or clever technological tricks.
For now, Lexus isn’t divulging performance figures for the electric powertrain, but I suspect the on-paper numbers will impress. After all, horsepower and torque aren’t areas where EVs tend to struggle…if you can look past the car’s weight. We don’t know that either, of course, but we do know the LFA shares the same aluminum body and chassis construction as the V8-powered Toyota GR GT. Like the Toyota, the Lexus also measures out to 107.3 inches with its wheelbase and 47 inches with its roofline, so it’s just as low-slung as its gas-hybrid sibling. The LFA is a little bit shorter than the GR GT, though, measuring out to 184.6 inches overall (against the GR GT’s 189.8) while being a little bit wider 80.3 inches vs. 78.7 inches).
Against the more Toyota’s more conventional supercar interior (as much as you can call any supercar “conventional”), the Lexus LFA concept leans hard toward the future with its cockpit-like design. Not only does it have a steering yoke, for better or worse, but it also packs a wide bank of streets and switches focused toward the driver. Couple that with the futuristic exterior, low center-of-gravity and stiff chassis setup, thanks in part to having a battery pack in place of an internal combustion setup, this car should hit all the right notes for the EV enlightened.
And if the production Lexus LFA doesn’t tickle your fancy because it’s an EV, at least you’ll still be able to enthuse over the Toyota GR GT, with its 641-plus horsepower and 199-or-higher top speed, as well as the V8 under its insanely long hood.
We should learn more about the all-new Lexus LFA next year as it gets closer to actually reaching production. When it does, though, we’ll be curious to see how it stacks up, particularly as the Tesla Roadster is supposed to definitely, totally, super-swear-this-time launch next year.
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