From the May 2023 issue of Car and Driver.
Remember the last time Lexus built a supercar? Of course you do, because the LFA was a memorable two-seat stunner with an even more memorable V-10 engine. So when Lexus reveals a concept previewing an electric supercar claimed to be the “spiritual successor” to the LFA, we listen. Unfortunately, we won’t hear the scream of 10 cylinders revving to 9000 rpm this time, but plenty of enticing details about this new sports car excite us.
For now, it’s referred to only as the Lexus Electrified Sport, and it carries the expected claims for lightning-fast acceleration and a long driving range. Lexus says the car will accelerate to 60 mph in the low-two-second range, which would certainly beat the LFA, and it could have solid-state batteries providing 430 miles of range. There’s no word yet on horsepower, but we think its electric motors need to offer somewhere in the neighborhood of 1000 ponies.
Even more interesting is that the company is looking into using a simulated manual transmission to increase driver involvement and has even built a prototype with a shifter and a clutch pedal in an electric UX crossover. Newly minted Toyota CEO Koji Sato, who is leading the company toward quicker adoption of EVs, stated in his previous role as the boss of Lexus that he wants the Lexus EV supercar to be “different” and have “another link from the car to the driver.” Even if that link is phony, we’re glad Lexus is trying something to connect EV drivers with their cars.
The concept’s low-slung bodywork looks futuristic but not entirely unrealistic, suggesting that a production version could look similar to what you see here. By the time this Lexus comes to fruition several years from now, it may face a wide range of electric-supercar competitors from the usual suspects, such as Lotus, Lamborghini, Ferrari, and Aston Martin, not to mention whatever EV startups pop up. An accordingly stratospheric price is also likely, as Lexus may see the LFA’s $375,000 figure as a mere starting point for its new-age replacement.
Senior Editor
Despite being raised on a steady diet of base-model Hondas and Toyotas—or perhaps because of it—Joey Capparella nonetheless cultivated an obsession for the automotive industry throughout his childhood in Nashville, Tennessee. He found a way to write about cars for the school newspaper during his college years at Rice University, which eventually led him to move to Ann Arbor, Michigan, for his first professional auto-writing gig at Automobile Magazine. He has been part of the Car and Driver team since 2016 and now lives in New York City.
Source: www.caranddriver.com