Let’s say you have $400,000 in American dollars and you want to buy an automobile that costs $400,000 in American dollars. Done deal, right? Not if that $400,000 car you want to buy is the new Lexus LFA.

Despite lagging sales and several nagging safety recalls, Toyota has thrown quite a bit of their eggs into the Lexus LFA basket by making prospective buyers commit to a “coolness test”, more or less.

“We want people who will drive the car, who will be seen in the car,” said Paul Williamson, national manager at Lexus College, Toyota’s dealer training school. “We want it to be seen on the right roads, in front of the right restaurants and not just being enjoyed by one individual in their private garage.”

Lexus plans to manufacture just 500 of these at the rate of about 20 per month so one could make the argument that this is just Lexus attempting to make the most out of their efforts by indirectly marketing the car, and in turn, the Lexus brand to only those who attend the highest scale restaurants, night clubs, and other events of the rich and important.

Then again you can also make the case that Lexus should be focusing their efforts on their middle-of-the-road luxury sedans which are attainable by a much larger portion of the population.

By K. Fitty Ditty

Popularity: 56% [?]