At a moment when cars are getting larger and the electrification of the U.S. auto industry is happening more slowly than anticipated, these conditions have made it harder to predict what any major automaker might have in the works. (That’s even more true following this week’s announcement of alterations to the country’s vehicle emissions standards.) But if one concept car unveiled this week is any indication, Lexus is keeping their options open — and going sleeker and energy-efficient in the process.
The automaker recently revealed the LFA, a battery electric concept car being developed in tandem with a pair of high-powered Toyota models, the GR GT and GR GT3. The trio of vehicles is being developed as part of a program dubbed “Toyota’s Shikinen Sengu,” an allusion to the practice of rebuilding and replacing a complex of shrines en masse. (In the automotive context, the goal has more to do with the preservation of institutional knowledge.)
In terms of a connection between the Lexus LFA and its two Toyota siblings, one of the areas where their designs converge most closely is in terms of where the driver will sit relative to the car and the road. The driver’s seat in this coupe is positioned in close proximity to, according to the announcement, “a switch layout that makes blind touch operation possible.”
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Some interior design features frustrated driversThis isn’t the first time Lexus has used the LFA name. The original LFA, sold in the first half of the 2010s, was a sports car that drew high marks. Writing at Car and Driver in 2010, Mark Gillies rated the 2012 LFA higher than the 2011 Ferrari 599 HGTE, and observed that “the average man on the street in England and Wales thought the Lexus was more striking than the Ferrari.” All of which is to say that if the electric LFA does make the leap from concept to production model, it’ll have big shoes (wheels?) to fill.
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