Lexus LFA: no plans for next-generation supercar

There were only 500 examples of the Lexus LFA ever built, and the car was an exercise in brand-building for the Toyota-owned luxury manufacturer.

Powered by a 4.8-litre V10 engine with 412kW and 480Nm of torque, the LFA is widely regarded as one of the most accomplished supercars of all time and one which gave Lexus the credibility to create pure F and watered down F Sport variants of its everyday models.

Speaking to CarAdvice at the launch of the new Lexus RC F in New York last week, the chief engineer of the RC F program (who was also fundamentally involved with the LFA’s development), Yukihiko Yaguchi, said there are currently no active plans for a replacement.

“LFA was certainly a special sports car for us to build as well, but we don’t have any plans right now [for a replacement] and it will take a little bit of time to come up with say another one, but it would certainly mean a lot to build a super exotic sports cars,” Yaguchi said via an interpreter.

With production of the Lexus IS F ending this month, it’s all left to the soon-to-launch Lexus RC F coupe to take over as the primary F model for the near future. So does Lexus still need a supercar to promote its F brand?

“[When] we introduced the car we certainly felt the necessity to push the F brand image up with the LFA, but now that the production has ended with the LFA, we would like to continue to build on that image by actually bringing in Lexus racing by being on track to promote and enhance the brand image.”

Given the research and development of the original Lexus LFA begun in 2000, a full decade before the first of the supercars were delivered to customers, any future Lexus supercar is likely to be at least a few years away.

Does Lexus need another LFA or has the Japanese brand proved its technical and performance prowess? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.