The Lexus LF-A is sold out. Your $375k may now resume burning a hole in your pocket, bank account, investment portfolio, Scrooge McDuck-style treasure vault. Bonus LF-A trivia point (courtesy: Automotive News [sub]): one out of every three LF-As sold in Europe went to Germany. And that’s all Toyota will say about that. Meanwhile, ToMoCo’s other, more “mission critical” sales numbers are slightly less inscrutable…
In fact, one could even go so far as to say that last month’s results are the first signs of real weakness in Toyota’s US-market performance. With the recall scandal now several news cycles removed and incentives running strong, Toyota didn’t have to be one of May’s weakest performers. And yet there it is: Camry down 6.5%, Yaris off 58.5%, Venza stuck under 5k units, Tacoma off 15%. In a market that grew 19 percent, Toyota grew only 6.7 percent. That increase came thanks to Corolla (+14.3%), Prius (14,248 units), the updated Sienna (10,666 units) and improvements over May 2009’s weak truck and SUV performance (redesigned 4Runner up 243%, FJ Cruiser up 65%, Tundra up 32%… even the recently-shamed GX460 was up over 100 percent). The only explanation: Toyota sold a lot of cars in May of 2009.
I don’t quite get the LF-A part here. Are they sold out or what? Overall, I don’t get people’s fascination with Lexuses (or should this be Lexi?) Buy a late 90’s or an early 2000’s Buick – here’s your Lexus…
Sorry, I could have made that more clear… so I have. The Lexus LF-A is sold out. I’m sure you can still find a nice deal on a Camry though…
They must have had an ‘Unintended Acceleration’ of sales on the LFA
Darn. I was hoping for a review by Jack Baruth.
For $375,000 I’d buy a fleet of cool cars, none of which would be a Toyota.
Twotone
Damn, I was waiting for the December To Remember sales event!
Is “sold out” applicable? I heard they were only avaliable for “lease.” Spliting hairs but hey, that’s the truth as I’ve heard it. So my question is, does that lease include a maintance plan?
Damn, edit button. I guess car makers count leases as sales so I need to STFU. But I do find it funny that it’s only available for lease, apparently for multi-millionares on a budget.
Has there ever been a limited production uber expensive (300k+) supercar that hasn’t sold out?
Buyers of these cars would probably buy another one if it had a different spoiler. Its pocket change to them.
Jaguar XJ220 springs immediately to mind. They were stuck with a warehouse full of them.
MacLaren Mercedes SLR. Original announced plans were for 500/yr, total of 3500. I can’t find definitive figures, but the actual sales were about half that, both per annum and total.
Porsche Carrera GT. Consensus seems to that they announced a build intent of 1500, but stopped at 1270.
1998 Smart City Coupé. Plan 220k/yr, Actual: ca. 100k/yr.
Who cares? It’s a Toyota. I could box 500 “pet rocks” put it in a Neiman Marcus bag and hype it endlessly to find enough suckers to buy them for $200. The LF-A is a nasty looking car that isn’t competitive. But I’m sure that it’s intriguing to enough brain dead people to sell out of the few that they’ve offered.
Yes, because brain dead people find things like this interesting.
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/10/29/video-weaving-the-lexus-lfas-carbon-fiber-a-pillar/
This technology (as it falls in price) will make for lighter, faster, more fuel efficient and safer cars. But, according to you only “brain dead” suckers are are impressed with car makers that try to build technology flagships – they should stick to drum brakes, leaf springs and carburetors like God intended.
Hmm, these commenters sound like they’re from A*toblog.
At least people buying an LF-A aren’t going to be subject to the Ferrari Buying Experience, whereby you give them your money, let them sit on it for a few years while they eventually get around to building your (by then) out of date and obsolete supercar.
I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss the LF-A. It’s generally reported to be a very capable supercar, and the Japanese have a way of making established players in any market up their game; the NSX did something similar in it’s day.
Plus, there’s the assembly process video, which is fascinating to watch. Interesting because Toyota actually started life making looms.
Am I looking at this correctly? For 375k you can have an LF-A or you can have a GT-R with a 280,000.00 pile of cash in the passenger seat.
I watched Topgear review on the LF-A, their conclusion was the car is nice and cool, but the price/performance just didnt make any sense. For the same price or less you can get better car then the LF-A. Sold out maybe because Toyota just didnt make that many cause they didnt it was going to sell?
Meanwhile, Gran Turismo 5 will probably be released before the FT-86 hits showrooms. The LFA is a perfectly competent sports car and an engineering marvel…now Toyota needs to figure out how to translate this benchmark to a platform that will actually net them a profit and get its customers’ blood pumping again.
FWIW, I believe McDuck referred to his vault as his “money bin.”
For all of your folks who say the LF-A isn’t worth the money, you are not in the target buyer group.
Same with Ferrari or Lamborghini. Yes you can have a GT-R with a $xxx,xxx.00 pile of cash in the passenger seat. But people still buy Ferrari.
The fact that it’s sold out without tax payer funded discounts is proof that it’s worth every penny it demands. It’s worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it.
“The only explanation: Toyota sold a lot of cars in May of 2009.”
Except that their sales were off almost 40% in May of 2009.
If I had that kind of money, I’d have bought one. It is fast enough, luxurious enough, and, most importantly, unique.
The LF-A isn’t powerful enough. It’s quick on the track for having just 550hp, but in a straight line its a dog. It’s slower to 60 than a GT-R, and it can just barely eek out a win over the Nissan in a quarter mile.
A new 911 Turbo is faster, and a 458 Italia will smash the LF-A, both in a drag race and probably at the track as well. The LF-A is overpriced, I don’t care how cool its carbon fiber is.
You are just speculating. Wait until professional drivers drive both cars before you say anything about it’s performance against a 458. And a 911 Turbo is not faster than the LF-A. 0-60 maybe, for the same reason a GT-R is faster (AWD and the ability to put the power down), but don’t think for a second that a car derived from F1 technology, that weighs less than it’s competitors and has similar HP figures, is going to be slower on a track. Plus, between a GT-R and an LF-A? Not even a contest, LF-A all the way. I think time will tell, in the few upcoming months, just how fast the LF-A is compared to the competition.