When Lexus announced that the official price of its upcoming 2011 LFA supercar was set at $375,000, it’s safe to assume that the collective jaws of every car enthusiast, including Lexus fans, would have dropped in an instant.
The new V-10 powered GT is set to go on sale in January 11 but potential customers won’t have to front up all the cash in one go. It seems that Lexus is planning to lease all 500 examples of its new LFA in effort to prevent speculators from inflating the price and hoarding stock.
The LFA will only be offered with two-year leases and Lexus will be holding on to the vehicles’ titles. The information comes from the automaker’s sales and dealer development chief, Brian Smith, who explained that Lexus is attempting to prevent the ownership experience of LFA customers from being damaged.
Of the 500 units, each one will be unique. Customers will even be able to specify what type of stitching they want their cars to have and importantly, no car will be built until an order is completed.
In this way, each LFA customer will be paying roughly the same for their cars. At the end of the two-year lease, customers can opt to buy the cars.
[Automotive News, sub req’d]
