The Lexus LFA was like a shooting star—bright and beautiful, but it burned out quickly. Production lasted just two years, from 2010 to 2012, with a scant 500 units finding homes worldwide. Since then, fans have been begging Lexus to bring back its beloved LFA. Well, today’s the day.
This is the new Lexus LFA Concept, the first Lexus to wear an LFA badge since 2012. Unfortunately, it’s not ready for production, as the word “concept” indicates. Even more disappointing is what’s under the hood—or, what’s not under the hood.
We’re sad to report that there’s no screaming V-10 with a 9,500 RPM redline, there’s no Yamaha soundtrack; only batteries. That’s right, the new LFA concept is fully electric, and Lexus won’t even go so far as to share any performance or battery configuration details. This is still very much a concept.
The company does attempt to justify its electric powertrain, saying: “The model name ‘LFA’ is not bound to vehicles powered by internal combustion engines. It symbolizes a vehicle that embodies technologies its engineers should preserve and pass on to the next generation.”
Photo by: Lexus
Marketing jargon aside, there are a few things we can glean from this debut. Most importantly, the LFA concept is built around a new lightweight, high-rigidity aluminium chassis. It’s the same chassis that also debuted today on the production Toyota GR GT and GT3 race car. Only the Toyota model gets a twin-turbo V-8 hybrid, not batteries.
Visually, the new LFA does look nearly identical to the Sport Concept that showed up earlier this year in Monterey. The body panels are basically the same, with a few minor tweaks here and there that make it look more production-ready. Given that not much has changed (or other than the name), there’s reason to believe that the upcoming production version won’t stray far from this final concept.
Size-wise, the LFA concept is 185.6 inches long (4,690 millimeters), 80.3 inches wide (2,040 mm), and it has a wheelbase of 107.3 inches (2,725 mm). That means this new LFA is about 10 inches longer than its predecessor (177.4 inches) and more than six inches wider (74.6 inches). It’s big.
We’ve already seen some of the interior, but Lexus gives us an in-depth look at the LFA’s cabin here. It features a cockpit-like design with aggressive detailing that wraps around the driver. In place of a tactile instrument cluster is a cluster of screens, with no central infotainment screen to note.
There’s still plenty we don’t know about what the production version will look like—or when it will even show up—but this concept gives us a good idea of what’s to come. Batteries and all.
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