Lexus LFA Concept detailed: Iconic name resurrected for supercar EV

Lexus’ second supercar has already been making the rounds this year, but now the Japanese luxury brand has confirmed some key details… and its name.

The Lexus LFA Concept, as it’s being referred to now despite looking production-ready, was shown off today in Japan alongside the related Toyota GR GT supercar and GR GT3 race car.

But unlike those models, or indeed the first LFA, there’s no high-powered combustion engine under the bonnet.

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Instead, the two-seater LFA Concept is electric, though Lexus hasn’t detailed specifics of its powertrain. It also hasn’t announced launch timing for a production version.

Its all-aluminium body frame – Toyota’s first – is based on that of the Toyota GR GT, though a battery and electric motors have been accommodated in the LFA instead of its cousin’s twin-turbocharged V8 petrol engine.

Even with a battery underneath, Lexus says it has given the LFA Concept the “same ideal driving position” as its Toyota cousin.

Lexus says the LFA Concept embodies Toyota’s concept of ‘Shikinen Sengu’, with a low centre of gravity, low weight, high rigidity and a focus on aerodynamics.

“It shares the techniques and skills used in developing the GR GT and GR GT3 while exploring the potential that is unique to BEVs,” Lexus explains.

Here’s how the LFA Concept measures up:

The exterior is unchanged since its previous appearances this year at Monterey Car Week and the Japan Mobility Show, where it wore the Lexus Sport Concept nameplate.

There’s a classic long bonnet, short rear deck silhouette that Lexus says is timeless and “will prevail well into the next generation”.

Inside, there’s a minimalist interior with a steering yoke, digital instruments that appear to curve around the driver’s field of view, and a prominent divider between the driver and passenger side of the cabin.

Lexus says the interior has been arranged to be as intuitive as possible, including a switch layout that “makes blind touch operation possible”.

The brand says the supercar concept follows in the footsteps of not only the old V10-powered LFA but also Toyota’s iconic 2000GT flagship sports car of the 1960s.

It forms a “sports car apex”, Toyota says, with its Toyota GR GT and GR GT3 platform mates.

Interestingly, Toyota says the LFA Concept was the product of what it describes as feeling humiliated.

“14 years ago, at Pebble Beach in America… [Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda] was told on his visit there, ‘Lexus is boring’. That feeling of humiliation was a turning point, and it became a source of determination,” said Toyota design boss Simon Humphries.

“Akio stood up and made a promise: ‘No more boring cars.'”

Various enthusiast models have come from Toyota and Lexus since, culminating in this “apex” trio.

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