Spotted: a Lexus LFA
Those who think of Toyota or Lexus may not immediately think of supercars. Certainly not over a decade ago. Yet in 2010 Lexus presented the LFA, a purebred supercar, developed with extreme precision as we have come to expect from the brand. When introduced, the Lexus LFA was the second model under Lexus’ then fairly new sporty F-label, after the Lexus IS F. The LFA was, however, the first F-model to stand completely on its own. He therefore formed the brand’s absolute flagship.
Lexus LFA: ten years of development
Consequently, the Lexus LFA was not developed overnight. On the contrary, development began as early as 2000. The first driving prototype was ready in 2003, but seven more years followed for an absolute hunt for perfection. Not until 2010 did Lexus consider the car good enough to go into production.
Lexus LFA production
That production wasn’t just any production, either. Only the so-called Takumi were allowed to work on the car. The Takumi are the brand’s most experienced artisans. The engines were built entirely by hand, crowned with a nameplate with the builder’s signature. Takumi’s team built one Lexus LFA per working day. As you can imagine, this limits production capacity. In the two-year production period, only 500 units left the factory.
4.8-liter V10
Speaking of that engine, under the hood was a 4.8-liter V10, developed in collaboration with Yamaha specialists. Power was 412 kW (560 hp), or even 420 kW (571 hp) with the Nürburgring Package. The engine drove the rear wheels, via a six-speed automatic sequential transmission placed on the rear axle, a transaxle transmission in other words. It reaches 100 km/h in 3.7 seconds and the top speed is 325 km/h. Learn more about the Lexus LFA here.
The spotted specimen
The chances of encountering a Lexus LFA in the wild are already slim, let alone in the Netherlands. Yet our colleague Bart came across one at Louwman & Parqui, the official importer of Toyota and Lexus. By the way, it is not a car owned by Louwman himself, but really a privately owned LFA.
This Lexus LFA was first officially registered in 2014. Since production of the LFA stopped at the end of 2012, so it must have been without registration somewhere for a while. Just a week after the first international license plate registration, this LFA received a Dutch license plate. It is also still with the owner who had it imported, or at least with the person who registered it immediately after the import.
One of three Lexus LFA in the Netherlands
Not surprisingly, the Lexus LFA is a pretty rare car in the Netherlands. According to the registry, there are only three examples in the Netherlands. One original Dutch (a black one from 2013), one imported (that is, this one) and one from 2013 with so-called “blank” license plates. This is a license plate that has been applied for and granted by the RDW, but has not yet been registered. So the other Dutch LFAs also had to wait a while after production for their first registration.
