Lexus LF News

The Lexus LF-A roadster could be the car of the future, or a car with no future.The LF supercar program has been running for close to three years and is a headliner for the whole Toyota group, but has yet to produce a production car.There have been coupe and convertible show cars, and a hardtop LF-A painted in flat-black camouflage competed at the Nurburgring 24-Hour race in Germany last year, but there is still nothing concrete for showrooms.But that has not stopped Lexus Australia from landing the signal red LF-A roadster as it show star for Melbourne."This car shows us what we are capable of doing, as a brand," says John Roca, head of Lexus Australia."It shows we are not boxed into a vanilla future that only has hybrid cars as a point of difference. It shows we can be, and will be, a lot more diverse than we are today."The LF-A roadster is familiar but different to anyone who knows the coupe.The lightweight body uses a combination of aluminium and carbon fibre, and the car rolls on 20-inch alloy wheels.It has the same 5-litre V10 engine, tucked just ahead of the two passenger seats but well behind the front axle line, and rear-wheel drive.Lexus has given few details of the convertible roof, except that the basic body is just as rigid as the coupe.And that it will have the same 320 km/h top speed.There is no chance for anyone at the Melbourne Show to buy the roadster, or even put down a serious deposit, but Roca believes the LF- A project will produce a genuine production car sometime in 2010."I think the car has a future. I think we're getting closer to 'when', ahead of 'if'. But we still don't know when that time will be," he says."The million-dollar question is when. And, frankly, I cannot answer that."But the car for the show is real. It has a real V10 engine that actually works and makes all the right noises."The stats we're getting show that the car will hit 300km/h and that was one of the targets. The engine always had the right power but the Japanese wanted 200 miles-an-hour and there have been some improvements to the aerodynamics to get it to 300 kays."Roca says the global economic meltdown will not affect plans for the LF-A, despite its potential impact on high-priced luxury cars."I think there is a market, even in this environment, for that car.And also for our brand," he says."Having it here was too good an opportunity to showcase what Lexus can do. We had to get it. As a brand, we are expanding. It began with the IS-F performance model, and the LF-A will follow it."And there is other new stuff on the Lexus stand in Melbourne.The latest RX makes its first public appearance in Australia, and the luxury SUV will be displayed as both a regular petrol model and a hybrid."The real story for us ion Melbourne is the RX. And the reaction to that car has been very strong," Roca says."We have the regular 350 and the 450 hybrid. The hybrid is only a pre- production car, but that will be available this year so we have the choice of the 350 and 450 by the beginning of the second half of the year."The important thing about the RX is that it's a second-generation hybrid for us. It will eventually be followed by the HS hybrid, which was just displayed at the Detroit Motor Show."We were originally told the HS was only going to be left-hand drive, but it's now confirmed with right-hand drive so we have put our hand up. We are definitely going to request the car for Australia and it's a car that will slot right between the IS250 and the GS." The 2009 Melbourne International Motor Show... 

...but that has not stopped Lexus from shipping the great-looking machine to Melbourne.The LF-A is the latest in a string of future cars that the Toyota group has shown at the Exhibition Centre.“We always try to either show prototype vehicles or something which illustrates future potential — we believe it gives an insight into the direction the brand is heading,” says the company’s sales and marketing chief in Australia, Dave Buttner.“It gives some credibility to what we are trying to do as a manufacturer.”Buttner has no update on final production plans for the LF-A, either as a supercar coupe or roadster, despite the car competing last year as a prototype at the classic Nurburgring 24-hour race.But Lexus has released details of the vehicle, starting with a carbon-fibre and aluminium body fitted with a 5-litre V10 engine.The powerplant is installed ahead of the cockpit to give a 50:50 weight distribution, which Lexus says is essential with 360kW to feed to the rear wheels and a top speed of more than 330km/h.The engine is connected by a torque tube and propeller shaft to a rear-mounted transaxle gearbox controlled by paddle shifters.The car’s styling draws from the Lexus L-Finesse design philosophy, with a compact, low-profile and aerodynamic front end. Like its coupe counterpart, the Roadster is just 1220mm high.While the LF-A will star under lights, Lexus is also expecting plenty of interest in the all-new RX350 SUV which will share its stand with the concept car.It is a clear evolution of the previous RX, which has done well in Australia as a regular petrol-powered car and also as a petrol-electric hybrid, but with some important upgrades.It continues with all-wheel drive and gets a 3.5-litre V6 with 220kW, as well as all the usual Lexus luxury stuff. The 2009 Melbourne International Motor Show... 

It's low, a purposeful two-door coupe sitting on big wheels with a sleek body and it promises super performance. But what is the car in our picture - an Aston Martin, Jaguar XK, maybe a Ferrari?Nope. It's from Japan and from a company known for building luxury cars, Lexus.This Lexus LF-A is arguably the first supercar from a Japanese brand since the Ferrari-challenging Honda NSX of 1991-2005, but with a lot more power than the NSX.Lexus has aimed “to build a supercar with world-class performance that is uniquely Lexus”.It features a five-litre, V10 engine developed for high revs. Power output is 370kW and early track testing shows a 320km/h top speed is within reach.The engine is mounted in front of the two-seat passenger compartment but behind the front axle line. LF-A engineers call it a `front-mid” configuration.The transaxle is rear mounted, providing the rear-wheel drive that enthusiasts prefer -and helping the weight distribution. As an aid to even weight distribution over each end of the car, two cooling radiators are mounted in the rear.It means the nose of the car can be kept low and designed for optimum aerodynamics - a science which often is compromised by having airflow into radiators.In this case, large intake ducts are just ahead of the rear wheel on each side of the car and feed air to cool the radiators.Aerodynamics, including the car sticking to the road at high seed, is helped by venturi-effect underbody shape as used on race cars.The rear bodywork has a pair of large grilles as exit vents for hot air from the radiators.The Lexus LF-A bodywork is built of aluminium and carbon-fibre. The rear section has a speed-activated spoiler.Gearshifting will be via paddleshifts.Lexus started with a fixed-top coupe in developing its LF-A, which is now well beyond concept stage but also has created a Roadster convertible as a show car. Both versions are just 122cm tall.Wheels? Try 20in diameter turbine-styled alloys - special 265/35 tyres on the front and 305/30 on the rear. 

It's the sort of odd-couple relationship that really shouldn't work ... but does. North America's eternal fascination with giant trucks and muscle machines continues

This year the North American International Auto Show did not disappoint with a huge range of cars – some mildly sensible, some downright ridiculous.One of the more ludicrous offerings was Suzukis’ X-HEAD. Looking more like a Tonka truck than a serious off roader, the X-HEAD is said to have more capability than a mere toy. It combines the off road readiness of the Suzuki Jimny and Grand Vitara with the load-carrying capacity of the Suzuki APV van from Japan.Lexus’ LF-A Roadster is one concept not to be chuckled at however. The engineers and designers at Lexus continue to use their groundbreaking LF-A concept as a medium for expressing their ideas about what a high-performance sporting vehicle not only can be but should be. A very sleek road machine.Sit back and enjoy this image gallery from day 1 of the 2008 Detroit Motor Show to see into the future of the motoring world.

The road-car lap record at the Nurburgring race circuit in Germany has been claimed by Lexus. It is not an official claim, but the coming LF/A supercar is said by company insiders to have bettered the mark set by Porsche with its turbocharged GT2.The existing mark was 7 min. 25 sec, set by former world rally champion Walter Rohrl in a GT2, and Lexus insiders say the LF/A managed 7.24.The Lexus mark easily beats the previous Japanese star, the new Nissan GT-R, by about 12 seconds.But, as there is no official timing at Nurburgring — which is used by most major carmakers for testing because of its long and demanding layout — no one is really sure.Porsche still claims the outright mark for a production car with its Carrera GT, a supercar in the Ferrari class, though its rivals tend not to include it when claiming kudos for their cars. And it denied claims at the Tokyo Motor Show in October that the GT-R had bettered its GT2 lap time.Lexus is now pushing hard with the LF/A, which has been delayed since it was first previewed at the Tokyo Motor Show two years ago.One source close to Lexus says the test mule has a 4.8-litre V10 engine co-developed with Yamaha, and pumping an incredible 420kW. Spinning to 9000 revs, the engine uses Formula One technology and is installed mid-ships in the LF/A, but just ahead of the cabin.The rear-drive LF-A's performance and handling are said to be closer to that of a racing car than anything Toyota has built before.With a slippery drag co-efficient of only 0.26, against most production cars in the 0.29-0.30 range, the LF-A is rumoured to have a top exceeding 330km/h.The car is expected on the road in 2009 and Lexus Australia is holding firm orders in the hope that it will get cars for local owners.