The Reason Why Lexus Discontinued The Best Car They Ever Made
When thinking of the automotive brand Lexus, most people think of nicely appointed and comfortable luxury cars. Not a boring brand, at all, but not particularly exciting. No one is going to stop traffic to take pictures of a Lexus RX 350. The LC 500 is a space-age performance car, but it doesn't invoke the same feelings as a Lamborghini or Ferrari.
However, back in 2009, Lexus announced their new flagship supercar, the Lexus LFA. The LFA was equipped with a 4.8L V10 that produced 552 horsepower and boasted a top speed of 202 miles per hour. That same V10 redlined at a frankly insane 9,000 RPM.
It's not exactly breaking news when Lamborghini makes an unhinged supercar with an ungodly amount of horsepower. It was, however, special when the same company that made your high school principal's RX 350 made a high-revving track monster.
Back in 2012, TV staple "Motorweek" thrashed an LFA around the track and described the car as sounding "wild and unruly."
Too much of a good thing
At its inception, Toyota announced it would only produce 500 LFAs. The clock was ticking right when they came out of the factory. According to press releases from the time, every LFA produced was handmade by a special team of workers whose sole job was to make the best supercar in the world.
While 2012 was the last model year for the LFA, Lexus managed to have new unsold cars for some years afterward. In 2019, a grand total of three new LFAs were sold from inventory that for over a half-decade remained available from the brand. To put it rather bluntly: The LFA was discontinued because it didn't sell well enough.
When they were new, the LFA's supercar performance had a price to match. Per Motorweek, the LFA they tested had a price tag of $376,500. That is more than 10 times the cost of the current Lexus UX SUV. If you want to buy a Lexus LFA today, you will have to pay considerably more.
Right now, Bring a Trailer has a 2012 Lexus LFA going for an eye-watering $725,000 with a week left of bidding. It's not outside the realm of possibility to see LFAs auction for seven figures in the future.
More than a decade ago, Lexus showed the world they were capable of making more than a nice sedan. They made what might have been one of the best supercars ever. Requiescat in pace, Lexus LFA.