With all the time, energy and resources used in building the Lexus LFA supercar, it seems the Japanese automaker might not be all that interested in anyone driving the vehicle as they’ve made it prohibitively difficult to get into. It’s not the cost that might keep people away ($375,000 being a rather reasonable price for a full carbon chassis exotic with a high-revving V10), but rather the complex process Lexus has devised by which potential “owners” have to jump through hoops to get into an LFA. And lets not forget, that 24 months later, the car goes back to Lexus – because it’s just a lease after all.

So what’s an LFA cost to lease each month? How about a staggering $12,398.44. And if you thought the whole idea behind a lease was to make a car more affordable, forget it. Lexus wants all that cash up front – a total of $237,562.56. But it’s not that simple. First Lexus has to actually choose you, after which you will be notified and then drop off a $10,000 deposit while Lexus checks your credit. then Lexus wants an additional $50,000 lump sum deposit.

Once the car has been built specifically for you (which is likely to take a while) candidates will have to then undergo a second credit check before handing over the $237,562.56, bringing the total to $297,562.56.

Now if there is some good news in here, it’s that Lexus will actually sell the LFA to leases at the end of the 24 months, for the residual value of $93,750.

What’s the purpose off all this nonsense? Well, Lexus devised this plan to weed out speculators who might try and buy an LFA in order to resell it at a higher value. Unfortunately for Lexus, they might have weeded out quite a few folks who really want the car but just don’t have the desire to participate in a lengthy series of payment, credit check, payment, credit check, payment, payment. And on top of all this, when you add the total lease price to the residual value, the number is actually $391,312.56 – or roughly $16,000 more than the MSRP. Plus Lexus will actually make you pay a $700 acquisition fee and then there’s those pesky taxes.

Is it worth it to own the first Lexus supercar? That’s still up in the air. The LFA has all the potential to be a world-class exotic, with its V10 engine and carbon fiber monocoque chassis, but can the notoriously dull Lexus brand build a full-fledged exotic?

Official release after the jump:

For the third straight year in a row Lexus will compete at the Nurburgring 24 Hour race, once again using one of its LFA supercars. And much like the past two years, the team will be operated by Gazoo Racing, which fields Lexus race cars in Japan’s Super GT series.

There’s no word from Lexus yet on what class the LFA will run in but judging from the pictures it seems like a more track-focused model than the past pre-production models. Lexus also isn’t messing around when it comes to racing talent, fielding a team of six Japanese and German drivers with some very impressive resumes. Included among them are six-time Super Taikyu Endurance Series champion Takayuki Kinoshita, 2002 JGTC GT500 winner Akira Iida and 2008 Nürburgring 24 Hour second place finisher Jochen Krumbach.

This year’s Nürburgring 24 Hour races takes place from May 13 to 16th and we’ll be sure to keep an eye on Lexus’ efforts.

News of this new Nürburgring racer comes just a day after rumors of a Lexus LFA Nürburgring Edition surfaced.

GALLERY: Lexus LFA Nürburgring Racer

Official release after the jump:

If you’re a Lexus enthusiast and can get to Miami for January 27th, the Japanese luxury brand wants to give you the opportunity to see its sporty side. Lexus is hosting an F-Sport Track Event at Homestead-Miami Speedway, allowing folks the chance to get behind the wheel of the IS-F, as well as F-Sport equipped IS and GS models.

The vehicles will be available for autocross driving, where Lexus aims to show-off the IS-F’s capabilities, as well as show just how much the F-Sport performance goodies can enhance the dynamic-side of the Lexus driving experience.

Better yet, one lucky individual from each session will win a hot lap of Homestead in the new 552-hp Lexus LFA supercar, driven by none other than legendary Grand Am pilot and two-time Rolex Sports Car Series Champion Scott Pruett.

See the press release below for more information and rules, or visit the link to register before the slots fill up:

http://LexusF-Event.com

Official release after the jump:

Over the past few weeks we’ve heard several rumors and reports that Lexus is planning to build an F version of the GS model. Designed to run against the likes of the E63 from Mercedes, CTS-V from Cadillac and M5 from BMW, even the big 5.0-liter V8 from the IS-F wouldn’t be enough to make the larger GS platform competitive. An even more powerful engine would be needed.

Lexus happens to have just such an engine in the new LFA supercar. The LFA’s 4.8-liter V10 makes 553-hp at 8700 rm and 354 ft-lbs of torque at 6800 rpm and according to Japan’s BestCar, will find its way under the hood of the still-unconfirmed GS-F.

It would be a great marketing opportunity for Lexus to show the LFA heritage running through the rest of the company’s lineup. The only problem would be the lack of torque and the likelihood that even with all that brute power it would still be a Lexus and, therefore, not all that engaging to drive.

[Source: Bestcar via Carscoop]

With just 500 cars being built and a price of $375,000, the LFA isn’t really the sort of thing that you make a commercial for – but Lexus went ahead and did it anyway. Besides, this isn’t about marketing the car, but the Lexus brand as a whole.

The commercial is in Japanese, but that’s irrelevant because even in English you would have ignored all the words and just stared at the Japanese supercar and listened to its glorious V10 rev.

In case you have been living under a very large rock, the LFA is powered by a 4.8-liter V10 engine with 552-hp and 354 ft-lbs of torque. Weighing just 3,263 lbs thanks to a chassis and body that is mostly constructed of carbon fiber, the LFA can hit 62 mph in 3.7 seconds and tops out a 202 mph!

Currently the LFA is on a tour of the U.S., having just appeared at the LA Auto Show and with another scheduled date slated for the Detroit Auto Show, which starts January 11th.

GALLERY: Lexus LFA at the LA Auto Show

GALLERY: Lexus LFA

Other Lexus LFA Videos after the jump:

The latest step in the car’s North American tour, the Lexus LFA supercar has arrived at the Los Angeles Auto Show, where it will be viewable by the public starting later this week. The LFA has already been shown at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas last month, but it was an industry-only event. The car premiered at the Tokyo Auto Show.

The LFA is powered by a 4.8-liter V10 engine with 552-hp and 354 ft-lbs of torque. Weighing just 3,263 lbs thanks to a chassis and body that is mostly constructed of carbon fiber, the LFA can hit 62 mph in 3.7 seconds and tops out a 202 mph! Just 5o0 LFAs will be built a a cost of $375,000 each.

After LA, the car’s plans are limited, with Lexus announcing that for 2009 it will visit just four more shows in Detroit (at the North American International Auto Show), Chicago, Dallas and New York.

Lexus has announced that it will lease rather than sell all the LFAs in order to avoid speculators trying to flip cars for profit.

GALLERY: Lexus LFA Debut in LA

Lexus has just released a new promo video of its LFA supercar in all its glory. There’s plenty of track action and lots of clips of the 4.8-liter V10 revving at full song.

Lexus is building just 500 versions of the ultra-exotic LFA, which uses a state-of-the-art carbon-fiber monocoque chassis, that helps the car weigh just 3,263 lbs. That weight, plus 552-hp and 354 ft-lbs of torque, let the LFA hit 62 mph in 3.7 seconds and blast on to a top speed of 202 mph!

The LFA is prices at $375,000.

Lexus has announced that it will lease, rather than sell the 500 LFA supercars it intends to built in an effort to avoid speculators and resellers profiting off the car’s rarity. Valued at $375,000, the LFA will be offered as a two-year lease, with Lexus actually owning the vehicle. It is not clear if the original leases will be able to re-lease the vehicle after the point.

Brian Smith, VP of sales at Lexus says the company wants people out driving the cars and not storing them in a museum or flipping them for an inflated profit.

In the past, automakers like Ferrari have made customers sign contracts saying that they would not sell a vehicle within one year of taking delivery.

The LFA is powered by a 552-hp 4.8-liter V10 engine. It can hit 62 mph in 3.7 seconds and tops out a 202 mph! Lexus says it will begin production of its first supercar in December of 2010 and vehicles will only be built once they are ordered.

GALLERY: Lexus LFA

[Source: Automotive News]

With its world debut in Tokyo and a private industry-only display at the SEMA Show, Lexus will give its LFA supercar the official first public showing in North America at the LA Auto Show.

The LFA is powered by a 4.8-liter V10 engine with 552-hp and 354 ft-lbs of torque. Weighing just 3,263 lbs thanks to a chassis and body that is mostly constructed of carbon fiber, the LFA can hit 62 mph in 3.7 seconds and tops out a 202 mph! Just 5o0 LFAs will be built a a cost of $375,000 each.

After LA, the car’s plans are limited, with Lexus announcing that for 2009 it will visit just four more shows in Detroit (at the North American International Auto Show), Chicago, Dallas and New York.

AutoGuide’s live LA Auto Show coverage starts December 2nd.

See AutoGuide’s Live 2009 LA Auto Show Coverage Here Starting December 2nd

GALLERY: Lexus LFA

GALLERY: Lexus LFA SEMA Show Debut

After its world debut just a few weeks ago at the Tokyo Auto Show, today Lexus gave an audience of media and aftermarket tuners the first look on U.S. soil of the its new LFA supercar.

It is undeniably the most expensive Lexus, the company has ever created. The LFA supercar, priced at $375,000 is aimed at raising Lexus from a German imitator to an Italian rival. Aimed at cars like the Ferrari 599, the LFA is powered by a 4.8-liter V10 engine with 560 PS (552hp) and 354 ft-lbs of torque and thanks to a six-speed sequential transmission and a weight of just 3,263 lbs, the LFA can hit 62 mph in 3.7 seconds and tops out a 202 mph!

Lexus says the V10 engine they have created is both smaller and lighter than most V8 engines. It also uses 10 individual electronic throttle bodies for the best possible throttle response. As the the body of the car it uses carbon fiber, which is joined to the car’s metal pieces in a special process the Japanese automaker has developed.

As rumored, the car does use a carbon fiber cabin structure (often referred to as a monocoque), which is why the vehicle weighs so little. Until now production vehicles with such a setup were limited to even more expensive vehicles, like the upcoming Aston Martin One-77, which is rumored to cost close to $1.7 million.

Inside, the car has plenty of state-of-the-art technology and even has the user-friendly Remote Touch mouse.

Lexus calls the car, “Ultra-responsive and extremely stable even when taken to the edge,” saying that, “the LFA creates a sense of reassurance that opens up a new world of driving emotion, exhilarating the senses to move the driver in more ways than one.” We’ll have to wait until some serious track tests to see if the car performs like it costs.

GALLERY: Lexus LFA in Matte Black