The only Lexus LFA in Europe has gone in display in the firm's flagship European dealership in London.
The Park Lane site is playing host to the £343,000 supercar until January to allow prospective buyers to experience the car up close. Only 500 units will be built, with Lexus expected to confirm in January just how many examples would be coming to Europe.
Lexus LFA arrives in Park Lane - latest pics
Devshi Varsani is the man tasked with selling the LFA in Europe and he hopes around 100 LFAs will be coming to the continent. Prospective buyers across Europe can register their interest online or in any Lexus dealer, before being put in touch with Varsani.
“At the moment, we’re in the process of taking orders and deposits for the car and have been since the Tokyo motor show,” he told Autocar. “So far, we’ve taken around 25 deposits from customers in countries including the UK, Spain, Russia and Germany.”
Varsani is keen to take as many deposits as he can before April in order to secure as many LFAs as possible for Europe. But even if you place a deposit for the LFA, there is no guarantee you will be able to get your hands on it.
“We want people to be out driving the car and want to sell it to the right type of person,” he said. “If we have more deposits than cars allocated, then we’ll end up having to return some.”
Some of the customers ordering the LFA are doing so “just because it’s a Lexus”, according to Varsani.
“People like the Lexus product and have owned our products in the past and therefore are getting an LFA as they know what to expect from the brand,” he said. “There’s been strong interest from day one genuine interest and most people aren’t being put off by the price.”
Toyota hopes that no two LFAs will be the same, as customers can specify hundreds of different colour and trim options, and can even invent their own colour. The 500 LFAs being built will include competition models, as buyers can chose the car in race spec.
Toyota won't make any profit on the LFA with the car being conceived, as one source put it, as a “once in a generation halo car” for the Japanese marque. The 500 LFAs earmarked for production will be made at the Motomachi factory in Japan in two phases — 2011 and 2012. Toyota will only build a car once it has been ordered.
Mark Tisshaw
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Re: Lexus LFA arrives in London
Heart-in-the-mouth situation about not scratching a £343,000 car whilst unloading it - but I'm afraid I just can't muster any enthusiasm for the car itself. The price really does seem quite unjustifiable when compared to other cars in that price bracket - even the performance is not that far out compared to the Ferrari 458 Italia. The 458 is also knocking on the door of £200,000 less than the LFA...
Re: Lexus LFA arrives in London
we took the liberty of taking some video of the car's arrival and put it on our You Tube Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialLexusLFA
and on flickr too:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/officiallexuslfa/
More to come!
Re: Lexus LFA arrives in London
until now so far, according to what we are allowed to see, read and listening it seems IMHO that this is another chapter in the pursuit of the nonsense
I really wonder what is the main stratagy (if really any) in the heads of Lexus guys, because if they wont to wash the face to became hybrid in Europe, it's really hard to my brain to understand the IS-F, the LF-A,... what's next?
it`s the same old story, Lexus it`s not a rebadged Toyota, it`s the automotive excellence, so can they explain the GX`s??
the Lexus are built in state-of-the-art dedicated factories... Motomachi??? what do they bild there?? empty factory until end of 2010???????
what the hell, the Lexus driver are used to, that will find in the LF-A???
cup-holders? covered screw heads?
still, according to the usual PR bu******, it`s clear that Lexus want to bild???? and sell??? LF-A`s in competition guise, also because Cologne now is empty, and I fear that the usual Lexus dealerships used to red carpets, coffee and newspapers will find trouble to detach the screw head covers...
By the way, if they claim that they will not make any profit with it, why limit to 500 pieces??? and build now when they head to the sink phase???
Toyota way? new compendium on the way?
Future will tell what kind of truth Toyota is bilding up