What do we have here?
Recently spotted working its way around the world-famous Nürburgring was a Lexus LFA Nürburgring Edition. That seemed quite fitting.
But, this one was different. That's because it boasted some modifications and even some camouflage. Considering the LFA was limited to 500 units worldwide and the vehicle has been out of production for some time, this is VERY peculiar.
Frankly, I've never seen anything like this from a manufacturer.
Equipped with wider fenders and sporting two different wheel/tire packages, the orange LFA laps its way around the 'Ring. It's not going slow either as you can see in some shots — and one spectacular fly by — it is MOVING.
There's no question that legendary V10 powerplant is providing the juice either. You can hear that beautiful note a mile away.
So, what is Toyota/Lexus up to?
It could be the development of an all-new package for LFA buyers. Perhaps the Gazoo Racing team?
Or, it could be the beginning of development of an all-new vehicle. We're thinking this isn't the case though. It just doesn't seem like it is in Toyota or Lexus' best interests at this time.
What say you, Spies?
During the Industry Pool at the Nürburgring I have filmed the Lexus LFA Nürburgring Edition testing on track.
The Lexus LFA was a real engineering tour de force. Sure, it was stuck in development hell for years, and the 4.8-liter V10's 552-horsepower output wasn't super impressive when it came out, but it integrated a ton of expertise Toyota gained from its F1 team in the early to mid 2000s. Unfortunately, it didn't sell well. Last year, we found there were a few new models sitting on dealer lots, five years after the 500-model run ended. Still, it looks like Toyota may not have given up on the idea of a race-derived flagship for Lexus, at least based on this prototype running around the Nürburgring this week.
At first glance, the car pictured here looks like an LFA with the Nürburgring Package and some camouflage on the front and rear fenders. If you look closely, you can see that the fenders are significantly wider than on the standard LFA. Based on the license plate, this appears to be the same car with two different sets of wheels. Lexus may simply be swapping out worn tires, or they may be testing different wheel and tire combinations to fit the wider wheel wells.
Anything beyond this is just speculation. There have been rumors of a new flagship Lexus sports car that sits atop the LC 500 and LC 500h. We saw the Toyota GR Super Sport Concept back in January, though that car looks nothing like what we see here. As much as we would love that sweet Yamaha co-developed V10 to carry over, we're not holding our breath. Some sort of hybrid powertrain is almost a certainty. Maybe Lexus and Toyota could pull some tech from its Le Mans-winning TS050 Hybrid race car.