Never Stop Driving #112: Let’s Hear It for Akio

Jason Cammisa's in-depth history of the poorly understood but magical Lexus LFA made my week. Watch it here.

The LFA is a sleeper exotic that emerged, like a cicada, when Toyota, a highly profitable car company with cash to burn, decided to spend hundreds of millions on a vanity project. Toyota weaved its own carbon fiber to build the chassis, installed a sonorous V-10 engine fit for the Monaco Grand Prix, and limited production to only 500 units. Earlier this year, at the Broad Arrow auction at The Amelia, I saw an LFA cross the block for $731,000, which is about what they're worth. Meanwhile, the Porsche Carrera GT, of which roughly 1300 were made, is worth about double.

Arguing about the value of seven-figure cars is folly because the value is by nature irrational. They are objects of desire, not utility. The market recognizes the Porsche as super special and the LFA as special. The values represent the discrepancy. I've driven both extensively and recognize why the Porsche is coveted. It's fast, thrilling, and full of exotic details. And its V-10? Oh, my god, the sound of that engine. The Carrera GT also has a manual transmission, and its swoopy supercar styling screams big dollars.

As for the Lexus, Toyota engineers put the engine out front, not behind the driver, claiming the driving dynamics would be better for everyday drivers. The engine placement, of course, dictated the styling of the car, and in the end, the LFA simply doesn't look exotic but rather more like a Japanese Corvette. The family resemblance to five-figure Lexus coupes was perhaps too strong.

That's the rub with big-budget halo cars: Carmakers produce them to enhance the desirability of the rest of their lineup, but they also need to be peacocks. Tricky.

The LFA is also saddled with an early automated manual transmission, which uses one clutch instead of the now common two clutches. The shifting action driving around town is often slow and clunky-so much for everyday drivability. And, finally, the LFA is a Lexus, a respected brand sure, but one known more for refinement and comfort than speed and awesomeness.

The biggest issue with the LFA was that it simply wasn't fast enough, despite its pedigreed V-10. Back in my Road & Track days, I set up a small road course at Detroit City Airport, figuring a lap time there would measure all the aspects of a car's performance like acceleration, braking, and handling. We called it the Motown Mile. Around that course, the LFA lap time was just like, again, a Corvette's. With high-dollar sports cars, speed and bragging rights trump everything.

That said, the LFA feels special in a way I've rarely encountered. The V-10 purrs to a 9000-rpm redline with nary a shutter and a howl that's dramatic and mellifluous but also subdued. I've never heard anything like it. Car companies always brag about how they sweat every detail, but in the LFA you know that was true, as Cammisa so deftly explains in his new video.

Cammisa also points out that the LFA was raced. It's one thing to build a car that can strut down Rodeo Drive, engine revving and popping, driver basking in the glow of envy from onlookers. It's another level of engineering prowess to produce a supercar that can thrive on track. The race track proving ground takes a sports car from a fashion object, like a Pagani, to a legit performance machine. [Interestingly, while Porsche is no stranger to the track, the Carrera GT never raced.]

The LFA's racing story is yet another example of the passion that I love about the auto industry. The business case for the LFA was thin at best. The accountants would never do it, but Akio Toyoda, grandson of Toyota's founder, pushed it through. He believed in the intangibles that a project like the LFA provides, the opportunity for engineers to stretch and to show the world that Toyota's about more than the Camry.

I'm a fan of Akio, who more recently said what few in the industry would admit: The rush to EVs was too fast and hybrids are a better option. Indeed, 2024 is turning out to be the year of EV plan rollback. Ford was the most recent, canceling plans for a three-row SUV. Toyoda not only championed the LFA, but he also personally raced one under the name Morizo. Thanks to Toyoda, the company now produces three very engaging sporting cars, the GR86, the Supra, and the GR Corolla.

For me, the LFA's driving experience and the personalities behind it far outweigh the average performance. When it comes to street cars, I'm a "fast enough" kind of guy, and I remain an LFA fan. In 2022, we called the LFA a car poised to appreciate and put it on our Bull Market List. It's a dream. Watch and enjoy the video.

Thanks for reading!

Larry

P.S.: Your feedback and comments are welcome.

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