MrFatbooty

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First report:

Toyota has been eyeing Nissan's success with the revived 350Z - and apparently, from spy pictures nabbed this week, it's been a little jealous of supercars like the Porsche Carrera GT, too. Toyota 's been caught testing what some insiders are calling the "TXS," a limited-production exotic that might be powered by a V-10 engine worth 500 hp.

Pictures show the TXS with enough cladding to disguise much of its shape, but clearly, this is no Celica or MR2-sized sportscar. Insiders suggest the car will tip in at less than 3000 pounds, giving its 500-hp powerplant (with 370 lb-ft of torque) a serious chance at catching the likes of the Porsche and Benz supercars. Top speed could reach 190 mph, the same league as the 550-hp Ford GT. Whether the drivetrain offers any version of Toyota 's hybrid technology is unknown.

Whether the final vehicle is sold as a Lexus or as a Toyota , it's likely that a limited production run of about 10,000 units is in order. Expect a debut at the 2005 Tokyo Motor Show and an on-sale date soon after - with a price tag well over $100,000.

http://www.thecarconnection.com/index.asp?article=7633

Refinement:

Two concepts will show up in Detroit as well: a Toyota concept sport wagon loosely based on the next Highlander due in the 2006 model year, and the Lexus LF-A, a high-performance sportscar concept presaged by spy shots of a supercar running around Toyota's stomping grounds.

http://www.thecarconnection.com/index.asp?article=7842

And finally:

Lexus is using the Detroit show to showcase a departure from its cushy, luxury image in the form of its LF-A sports car concept, featuring V10 performance and a design that will signal a new direction in styling for Toyota’s Lexus brand.

The car we caught testing recently (and shown in these photos) now looks as though it was early engineering mule of the LF-A. The car is said to have a 500-hp, 370-lb-ft V10-mill under the hood, weigh less than 3000 pounds and to be able to hit a top speed of 190 mph. Pricing will be in excess of $100,000 for one of an estimated 12,000 that Toyota/Lexus plans to produce.

Lexus will also show a refreshed version of its GX 470 luxury and an RX 330 Thundercloud limited edition appearance package.

http://www.autoweek.com/news.cms?newsId=101442

And I don't know why I didn't post this sooner, since info has been percolating for months. :thinking:

sherwood

it's got supra II written all over it, the veil can't hide it

M Type X

They only plan to produce 10,000?? Well, at the price...

But then again Toyota deliberately held down Prius production quantities.

98typeR

I wish Toyota would come out with a $30ish Supra.Maybe a 3.5 V6 w/ 325hp?

bluetwo

So most of us will never have one. And so we may only see one from a distance once in a while, at least Toyota is has awakened it's sports car section agian.
I have hopes that the car will do well, and that Toyota or Lexus will spawn a more affordable line of sports cars.
I just hope they kill off the IS300 any time too soon.

M Type X

The new IS line/replacement is said to have two engine options: 2.5L V6 and 3.5L V6.
???

Adröck

Lexus LF-A concept

Vehicle: Lexus LF-A concept
Engine: High-output double overhead cam V-8
Horsepower: More than 500 hp
Height: 48.0 inches
Width: 73.2 inches
Length: 173.2 inches


"The Lexus LF-A is like no sports car we have ever built--or even imagined," said Jim Press, Toyota Motor Sales executive vice president and COO. "Currently only a concept, it is a realistic vision of how we might address the boundaries that define the exotic sports car landscape." The Lexus LF-A concept features an engine capable of developing more than 500 horsepower from a displacement of less than five liters. With a combination of optimum gearing, weight and aerodynamics, the LF-A concept would produce a top speed in the neighborhood of 200 miles per hour.

Lexus says the LF-A concept strongly hints at a high-end halo sports car for the brand. Look for it in showrooms three years from now.









There is not much that I like about it. Looks too much like a door stop with Walmart Hubcaps.

MrFatbooty

Some more detail:

Lexus had a lot of news up its sleeves at Detroit. Over the next fifteen months the luxury brand will crank out 22 revised and new models. Denny Clements, vice president and general manager of the Lexus division said so during the unveiling of the latest concept car, the LF-A. The first car to hit the dealerships is the new GS, which will arrive in March and will get all-wheel drive later in its model cycle. In March the new IS sedan will bow in Geneva and the gas electric version of the GX, the 450h, will be in New York.

In Detroit all attention was reserved for the LF-A concept car, however, the third in line after the LF-X luxury crossover and the LF-S future luxury sedan that both were shown in 2003. The LF-A is Lexus’ concept for a luxury sport coupe. Spy pictures of that concept have been taken this fall at the famous Nuerburgring racetrack in Germany and generated high expectations of the new concept. In reality and on stage, the LF-A indeed looks gorgeous. But is it a “pure concept, a vision of how would define a sports car of Lexus could be,” according to Clements. It might have an engine of less than 5.0 liters’ capacity with more than 500 hp. The LF-A has a nine-inches-longer wheelbase than the Porsche 911 Turbo and it is five inches shorter. And at 48 inches is nearly identical in height to the Ferrari F430. Toyota ’s global managing officer of design, Wahei Hirai, said that the past two years a new styling philosophy was applied, which they call L-Finesse. It combines simplicity and elegance and it avoids exaggeration.

In the meantime Lexus is planning an aggressive marketing offensive in Europe, where the brand has a mixed image in the marketing segments, which has translated in second-tier sales in the overall luxury market.

http://www.thecarconnection.com/index.asp?article=7954

M Type X

22 models? That's a lot of trim models and hybrid variants.

I like it how Chrysler claims 3-4 dozen "new models" coming out in the "next couple of years." Hilarious. It's like going to the ski area with half a dozen lifts and 12 ways to go down the mountain, but they claim "80 runs."

MrFatbooty

If you’re like us, you have wondered just what benefit Toyota gets from spending hundreds of millions of dollars to be smacked around by Ferrari, Williams, McLaren and Renault in Formula One. Sell more Priuses perhaps? Doubt it.

Well, wonder no more: Toyota dropped the Lexus LF-A sports car concept on the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. A sports car from stodgy old Lexus? Yup. And, as we tend to say around here, but wait, there’s more: The company claims a strong link between the concept and its move in to Formula One.



Is that for real or just public relations BS?

Toyota insists it’s for real. The company began testing its F1 prototypes in 2001 and entered the fray in 2002. Since the F1 involvement began, rumors have floated around the company was working on a two-seat road car, and one that might have supercar aspirations. And indeed Toyota designers and engineers have dreamed about doing a car such as the LF-A since the F1 program’s launch. They say today it is not so much that members of the F1 team actually spun wrenches putting together the concept car, but more that F1’s image—the notion of competing in and learning from the world’s highest form of motorsport—will be reflected in the show car.

So what exactly is the LF-A?

It is a two-seat concept Lexus hopes will raise the worldwide awareness of what used to be an American-only nameplate. In addition to the United States, the Lexus name is now used in Europe and is being introduced in home-market Japan. LF-A has another mission as well. Lexus says the car points at the luxury brand’s future styling direction, which the company refers to as L-Finesse. The L-Finesse theme will become evident in the production version of the GS, shown as a concept at last year’s Detroit auto show (AW, Jan. 19, 2004).

L-Finesse will be further driven home in a new IS, due in a year, and an all-new LS sedan, due in about a year and a half.

“L-Finesse is simplicity and elegance,” says Toyota executive vice president Jim Press. He says the exotic LF-A is worthy of the company’s F1 commitment, and wants you to think of it as a good indication of how Lexus might do a sports car.



Wahei Hirai, president of Toyota’s European design center, said the idea behind L-Finesse is to introduce a fundamental shift in Lexus design. The intention is to add some spark to Lexus’ admittedly staid styling, with designs that are “uncluttered and void of extraneous elements.

“Inside and out the focus is to avoid exaggeration,” Hirai says, “and to prioritize understated luxury that is intriguing, subtle and seamless.”

Actual work on the LF-A began a year ago, while the final shape you see here was finalized just two months ago. The show car itself is two inches shorter than a Porsche 911 with a nine-inch-longer wheelbase. At 48 inches high, it is about the same height as a Ferrari F430; at 73.2 inches wide, it splits the difference between the Mercedes-Benz SL55 and the Aston Martin DB9.



The minimalist approach is seen inside, too. There are few switches and knobs on the dash and center console, for example. There is no evidence of anything like those one-knob-controls-it-all contraptions such as BMW’s iDrive or Audi’s MMI.

Will LF-A happen as a production car? Sources say there are “a lot of people inside the company who want it to, and a lot of people inside the company who don’t.” Officially Toyota says the car is being “carefully considered” for production; that if it is produced, the street car will look a lot like the concept.

Of this much we’re pretty sure: Our spy shooters and moles say the LF-A gives strong hints about a production sports car, which we’ve captured flying around the Nürburgring in tests (Dec. 27, 2004). Sources tell us a production version of either the next Supra (possibly called TXS) or a Lexus sports car, depending on which Toyota decides to build, might be shown at the Tokyo show this fall before going on sale a year later.

Show-car and production-car specs are closely guarded secrets. Toyota won’t give up suspension details, nor will it even say which end of the car the engine sits in, though further digging indicates it’s probably a mid-engine car.



The rumors alone are enough to get you excited, though: Power might be in the 500-hp range from a V10 engine of less than 5.0 liters of displacement. A V8 might be used if F1 rule changes, set for 2006, reflect that. The target weight is said to be less than 3000 pounds, with a top speed upward of 190 mph.

That’s all well and good. Of course, none of it means jack if Toyota doesn’t build the car, though insiders strongly hint it will. Keep your eyes on the Detroit show and the Tokyo show this fall.

http://www.autoweek.com/article.cms?articleId=101562

I dunno about that mid engined bit. The proportions at first glance seem to suggest the engine is up front. But upon further inspection there are those air scoops on top of the rear fenders and those fans in the rear fascia, which would seem to indicate the engine is in the back of the car. Who knows.