As the 500th production Lexus LFA rolls off the assembly line at LFA works, the dedicated production facility at the Motomachi Plant, Aichi Prefecture, the story of Japan’s finest supercar to date comes to an end. It took Lexus 10 years to get around making the LFA, and it only stayed in production for two years.
Lexus fulfilled its initial goal of making 500 LFAs, even though they said they lost money on every single one. Lexus LFA cost nearly $450,000 a pop, but even at that price it didn’t return the investment.
As mentioned the LFA was in development for a full decade, most of it in Germany at the Nurburgring. It was a hugely expensive project. But Lexus was so dedicated to show to the world they can make a proper supercar that they scrapped all the plans half way through and started all over again, because they realized carbon fiber is better than aluminum for making the body of the LFA.
LFA was not the most perfect super car ever, but for a first, it was bloody brilliant. With a 552 horsepower race-bred V10 engine and more computing power than a spaceship, it turned out to be a great drivers car with an amazing turn of speed and superb handling; not to mention top notch quality and reliability.
The last Lexus LFA is a white one with Nürburgring Package. It comes with a special LFA 500 plaque. Only 170 highly skilled takumi workers involved in parts manufacturing, vehicle assembly and painting of the LFA.
As the final vehicle left the production line, LFA chief engineer, Haruhiko Tanahashi said, ‘I’ve lived and breathed supercars for the past decade. Specifically one supercar, LFA. Very few people have the opportunity we had to create a world-class supercar from a blank sheet of paper.’
