Tokyo Auto Salon: The LFA Roadster That Drives Bloggers Bonkers

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

This innocent white car will lead major news outlets astray. It already does. Shown at 2UX3J, or rather the Lexus booth, this LFA roadster concept makes blogs of all stripes, from Jalopnik to our sister publication Autoguide, fantasize about an impending launch in 2014. I am sorry, they have all been misled.

A usually highly reliable source at Lexus tells me that there will be no LFA roadster, or, for that matter, any other LFA. The project is finished. Done. Syuryo.

The topless car had made appearances at major auto shows in the past in varying colors and sent speculations in high gear. It was never meant for production. Previous reports of an impending launch in 2014 were likewise wrong, my source assures me.

The source confirms TTAC’s report that the team at Motomachi has been mostly disbanded, and that only a small team is retained to supply LFA customers with parts and support. This can be a very safe assignment. Chief Engineer Haruhiko Tanahashi expects the lifetime of an LFA to be 50 years, or more. The carbon fiber material is virtually indestructible.

The car on display in Tokyo is the same car that had been shown before in varying colors. A give-away are the buttons at the center console that already look a little shopworn.

Most likely, this will be the last appearance of the mystery topless LFA. Then why show it at all? Remember, the motto of the 2UX3J Lexus booth is “Real or Fake?” Prepare to be fooled. The LS600 with studs won’t see the light either.

Sayonara, LFA.


Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Rentonben Rentonben on Jan 11, 2013

    This is a sublime car for those with great taste. (TMC, please credit account #339182 for this Toypostivie post)

  • Beemernator Beemernator on Jan 13, 2013

    A supercar with a lifespan of 50 years? Only Toyota could pull that one off. On the other hand, a search for "Porsche engine failure" yields about 1,190,000 results. Yes, really. The TTAC article "Porsche's Deadly Sin #1" is at the top of the list, BTW. Sigh...

  • TheMrFreeze That new Ferrari looks nice but other than that, nothing.And VW having to put an air-cooled Beetle in its display to try and make the ID.Buzz look cool makes this classic VW owner sad 😢
  • Wolfwagen Is it me or have auto shows just turned to meh? To me, there isn't much excitement anymore. it's like we have hit a second malaise era. Every new vehicle is some cookie-cutter CUV. No cutting-edge designs. No talk of any great powertrains, or technological achievements. It's sort of expected with the push to EVs but there is no news on that front either. No new battery tech, no new charging tech. Nothing.
  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
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