Quote:
Originally Posted by 997GT3
If it were a $200K car that would have been available to the unwashed masses I would be singing its praises (maybe even ordering one-that would be pretty close to my financial edge though).
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Oh please. If it were $200k, you'd still be wondering what justifies its 150% price premium
over a GT-R. The fact of the matter is, Nissan set out to beat Porsche's Turbo lap time on the 'Ring. Numbers mattered to them. Lexus, on the other hand, chose to produce a car that offers Ferrari levels of driver involvement, to emphasize the experience of
driving. Closer to the Scuderia scale than to the 599 GTB, which let's face it, is a more logical "competitor" to the LFA: both are front-engined, considerably more limited production and more expensive than the mid-engined V8 Ferraris. Yet who in their right mind considers the 599 a
competitor to the F430?
Do you honestly think it is beyond the expertise of Toyota to produce a powerful 6-cylinder turbocharged car, beyond their ability work with any of their transmission partners on a DCT?
Just to give you some more insight about what an industry veteran would consider the LFA to
not be a competitor to (and why) consider this from Motor Trend who interviewed Tobias Moers, Director of Vehicle Development for Mercedes-AMG:
"MT: Who do you consider the competition for your SLS AMG?
TM: Our main competitors are the Porsche [911] Turbo, Audi R8 V10...We talk about Ferrari, but the California is more in terms of the SL and the F430 is too aggressive compared to our car. And we don't know anything about the new one, the 458 Italia.
MT: So how about the Lexus LFA? Do you think it is an SLS competitor?
TM: Actually I don't know. It is quite hard to calculate how good that car is... I saw it on the Nordschleife for the 24 hours race. Ahh. I don't know. It's not a competitor, because they are talking about what, 500 cars? That's what I read in the press kit. I don't think so. It is too expensive. It's not a competitor. No.
...maybe it's fast. It could be, but it is such a small market."