Screw the Lexus LFA, I Want the Supra
Photo copyright ©2009 Damon Lavrinc / Weblogs, Inc.
You’ve heard of diamond-encrusted televisions. You’ve heard of gold-plated refrigerators. You’ve heard of bathtubs dipped in platinum. Are any of these things better because of their blinged-out status? No.
A gold-plated refrigerator is still a refrigerator. If I gold-plated my excrement, it would still be excrement.
When you get down to the nuts and bolts of the matter, it’s just flat-out tasteless.
This is what plagues the Lexus LFA.
It’s a great machine. It can lap the Nürburgring in 7:24. It’s got a great-sounding V10 engine. It’s dynamic, and it’s the automotive equivalent of gold-plated excrement.
I have come to this conclusion via the power of complex mathematical reasoning. If I were born yesterday, I’d be able to guesstimate the LFA’s price at $168,000 just by looking at it. If you told me how it performed, I’d add $25,000 to the total. If I were to hear the sound of the engine – which may be the best sound of any road car today - I’d start feeling generous and I’d add $30,000 to the expected price.
So where does that leave us? $223,000
Lexus LFA MSRP: $380,000
Discrepancy between perceived price and actual MSRP: $157,000
So where did all those Benjamins go? They went into the carbon fiber-reinforced polymer body which saves about 200 lbs. versus an all-aluminum car.
So tell me, are you willing to pay $157,000 to lose 200 lbs? I’m not and I’m certain NBC’s Biggest Loser isn’t either. So while the Lexus LFA is a great car, it’s a great car wrapped in carbon fiber, or the automotive equivalent of gold plating, and for an extra $157,000 … well, if i carry the seven and cross-cancel – yep, that makes the car crap – crap wrapped in “gold”.
I know, everybody wants to be like Audi. Put a halo car in the showrooms to get people to walk in, and they walk out with an A4. Same thing with the Ford GT. Same thing with the Acura NSX. Same thing with the Dodge Viper. All those cars changed their entire car companies and the way people perceived them.
But now the halo car business is becoming too much of a “me too” business; as a result, I think this car will hurt Lexus’s image. The Lexus LFA is a halo car done wrong. Halo cars have to present something new and/or unique to the marketplace. The Acura NSX was the best example – it was the first supercar that was easy to drive. The Dodge Viper – the automotive equivalent of a red thong flossing a tan butt on a summer day north of 100°F. Audi R8 - a true supercar you could drive every day and almost afford. LFA: just another fast car.
You see, halo cars don’t necessarily have to beat all their rivals, but they have to be compelling. I’m sorry, but among Ferrari 599 GTB Fioranos and Mercedes-Benz SLS AMGs … even the much cheaper Nissan GT-Rs, the Lexus LFA is leaving this reviewer cold.
The name LFA originates from “Lexus Future Advance”. It’s a shame because in many ways, this car is retarding Lexus’s future.
They should have made a successor to the Supra (the name alone sounds better than “LFA”) that would have been less expensive than the Nissan GT-R, but better-performing. What they’ve given us is an overpriced Supra with a Lexus badge and radiators in the back. Stinky.
Photos copyright ©2009 Damon Lavrinc / Weblogs, Inc.
I’m Joining the Movement – The Fiesta Movement
Live Photos Copyright ©2009 Sebastian Blanco / Weblogs, Inc.
I am in the process of submitting my application to become a Ford Fiesta Agent. If you haven’t heard of the Fiesta Agent program, it’s Ford’s way of getting the word out about their new ultra-compact car, and my are they doing a great job.
Ford’s already done one round of viral marketing with the new Fiesta to where they have 80,000 hand raisers ready to buy the car the second it comes out. That’s phenomenal in a country where people (comparatively speaking) pay less for gas than the air they breathe.
With the Fiesta Movement Chapter One, Ford Motor Company was able to generate this much viral buzz:
Fiesta Movement agents have traveled more than 1.4 million miles and have generated more than 6 million YouTube views, nearly 740,000 Flickr views and more than 3.7 million Twitter impressions.
That’s a lot of Tweeting, especially when you consider this movement is now immortalized in the Guinness Book of World Records.
A week ago the Fiesta Movement held the largest “tweetup” in the history of mankind with 1,149 attendees. Here’s a definition of a “tweetup” pulled from the Ford press release:
“A tweetup is any gathering of two or more people who know each other through Twitter.”
On the heels of all this buzzing, tweeting, blogging and being viral – sounds like a night in Thailand more than social-networking and hip corporate marketing – Ford has just announced it is looking for new Fiesta agents for its Fiesta Movement Chapter Two.
The Future Number-One Automotive Journalist in North America wants to be a part of something historic and record-breaking, so I am working on my application to become a Fiesta agent. This involves filling out online forms and filming a video, so it should be fun.
I consider it another chapter to add to my story.
Speaking of the 2011 Ford Fiesta, I just saw it at the L.A. Auto Show and it looks brilliant. For instance, the leather quality is on par with luxury cars. It’s like Lincoln made a supermini. Quite frankly I blame a lot of Fords success on its decision to sell off Jaguar.
A few years ago Ford couldn’t make nice cars because they wouldn’t be able to sell Jaguars. Why make a nice Taurus, or a Five Hundred as it was called back then, and cannibalize Jaguar X-Type sales?
Now Ford is in a position to make cars that undercut the luxury competition by 10 to 20-thousand dollars, and there’s a lot of sales and profit to be made in the “undercutting luxury” segment. Hyundai’s been at this strategy for several years now, and look at how successful they are.
This strategy continues for Ford’s most compact car in America. Imagine, this car might not have existed in the U.S. if Ford hadn’t sold Aston Martin because, rather laughably, Aston Martin is getting into the small-car market with the Aston Martin Cygnet.
The Small Car for Rodeo Drive?
Ah, it’s nice to know Ford has some breathing room with the cars they now bring to market, and this is exactly why the Ford Fiesta in the U.S. will be a great set of wheels.
So there you have it, the Fiesta Movement – isn’t it a little ironic this car is called “party”?
Manuel Carrillo III
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