In the preceding chapters, we followed the Lexus LFA from raw fiber to body, paint, and assembly. Today, the LFA gets its engine. Tomorrow, we’ll test it, and then, we’ll say good-bye to the LFA Workshop in Motomachi. 

On its slow road to completion, the LFA travels down a main line, where it is met by components that come from smaller sidelines. One such subassembly is the LFA’s V10 engine. Covered by a thick sheet of plastic, it comes from Yamaha where it was built and assembled. The engine was a balancing act, in more ways than one. (Read More…)

The Opel mess claims another victim. “Opel’s Karl-Friedrich Stracke stepped down from his position as chief executive of the embattled carmaker to take on “special assignments”, where he will report to the Chairman and CEO of parent General Motors,” Reuters says. (Read More…)

The new energy relationship between PSA Peugeot Citroen and BMW is just about done now that BMW and Toyota intensified their cooperation. An Opel executive dashed hopes that the French will be able to use GM technology instead.  “The honest answer is I can’t imagine that,” Opel development chief Rita Forst told  Reuters, when asked if the two companies would share green car technology.  (Read More…)

We never thought much of De Tomaso’s resurrection. Italian police agrees, thinks De Tomaso’s saviours might be crooks and arrested De Tomaso’s chairman Gian Mario Rossignolo, along with two other men on suspicions of that 7.5 million euros ($9.2 million) of public funds were misused in a failed turnaround plan, Reuters says. (Read More…)

European automakers know that there is only one thing that is worse than Teknikens Värld fabled moose test, and that is failing the moose test and then arguing with the Swedish magazine. Italy-owned Chrysler is getting that education.  Not enough that Teknikens Värld  found  the Jeep Grand Cherokee “lethal in evasive maneuver.”  

It now caught Chrysler’s propaganda arm committing a deadly sin in the hoopla business, violating the first commandment of flackery: When you stepped in the shit, don’t walk around the house. (Read More…)

LFA carbon fiber body

After a general introduction in the first chapter, the last chapter of this inside report showed us  how the body-in-white of the LFA is hand-made layer by layer, and that it is actually a body-in-black. When finished, the body goes on a transfer cart and travels one third of a mile to the second stage of the LFA production, painting and final assembly. We take a bus. (Read More…)

BMW did not buy Mitsubishi’s Nedcar plant , a Dutch busmaker did. Mitsubishi today said it signed a principal agreement on the sale of its Dutch Nedcar plant to local bus maker VDL Groep. The busmaker gets a deal: The plant with a book value of 493 million Euro ($605 million) goes for exactly one euro. (Read More…)

Porsche’s soon-to-be 100 percent owner Volkswagen is making money hand over fist. At the same time, the German tax payer is contributing  43.67 million euros to the expansion of Porsche’s plant in Leipzig, Germany, where the new Macan will be made starting in 2014. This has attracted the attention of EU competition regulators. (Read More…)

Growth of the formerly red-hot Chinese auto market is as slow as traffic during the Beijing rush hour. At least, there still is some growth. Sales of all automobiles in China are up 2.9 percent for the first half of the year to 9.59 million vehicles. Sales in June were up 9 percent. This according to data released by the by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). (Read More…)

What would we do without the neverending saga of the Mahindra brothers entering the United States of America with a truck? The publishing of white pages again has been prevented by the news that  the U.S.-bound truck by Mahindra & Mahindra has suffered yet another of its many setbacks. The Indian company has halted development work on a pickup truck aimed at the U.S. market after a failure to win certification, Reuters says. (Read More…)

One of two circular looms on the planet. 12 layers of seamless carbon fiber are woven into what will be part T3-3RH, part A-pillar, part roof support

Yesterday, we heard how the LFA really was born (in a bar, where many good ideas are born and pitched,) and why it is made from carbon fiber. Now, we are in front of the cleanroom, and while our little group is suiting up, let’s use the time for a quick course on CFRP. 

The basic principle of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer, CFRP for short, is not new. It dates farther back than metal. CFRP is a composite, made from two completely different materials that are joined together to give a much stronger material. Straw and clay was such an early composite. Concrete is a more recent one. In the case of CFRP, carbon fibers are combined with epoxy, the polymer. Sometimes, the material is also called “carbon fiber reinforced plastic,” but the end product is far removed from what usually comes to mind when we think of plastic. (Read More…)

Irvin Gordon bought the Volvo coupe in 1966 when an AM/FM radio was a big deal and an optional extra.  Gordon took Volvo P1800 and radio. 46 years later, the car holds the mark for High Mileage Vehicle since 2002 and is only 34,000 miles away from the 3 million mark. Yes, that’s 3,000,000 miles. (Read More…)

When Joel Ewanick left Hyundai and signed on as GM’s marketing top gun, some people asked when he would do something like Hyundai’s warranties. Others said GM won’t dare. Announcing two new programs, GM dares, carefully. (Read More…)

On those long cross country rides, some of us may hope to pick up a hitchhiker, or hitchhikeress. Seems to be a dying breed though. An app will fill that gaping void. SideCar, an on-demand ride-sharing app, lets users request a ride by indicating where they would like to be picked up and dropped off”,  Reuters says. (Read More…)

The autoclave. A giant pressure cooker that limits the Lexus LFA production to one per day

Behind a nondescript garage door in the Motomachi plant in Toyota City is LFA Kobo, the LFA Works. Here, 170 men and women chase the holy grail of car making. Their mission: How to make a car super fast, super light, super safe, and affordable. They have mastered the first three. On the affordable they are still working. The holy grail is being chased in a supercar, the $375,000 Lexus LFA. (Read More…)