Lexus Australia aims for lucky number 11

The phrase 'win on Sunday, sell on Monday' has a new companion: 'do a fast lap time at the Nurburgring and sell cars on the other side of the planet'.

That's the case for Toyota's luxury car division Lexus in Australia. After a special Nurburgring edition of the LF-A set a record time (7min 14.64sec) for a series production vehicle two months ago on the famous German race track, the company has received more interest in the car yet again.

Despite initially only being allocated five of the 500 vehicles to be made available worldwide, demand was so strong locally that Lexus ended up securing 10 cars Down Under.

But the head of Lexus in Australia, Tony Cramb, says there are still several "serious expressions of interest" from Australian customers – if he can get more cars.

"In one case we're holding a $100,000 deposit for the car," he told motoring.com.au. "So I'm hoping a deal might fall over somewhere else in the world so that we can secure him a car. We could even sell a few more than that."

Cramb said the renewed interest was sparked by the LF-A's lap time, even though the limited build of 50 Nurburgring editions are not able to be sold in Australia on a technicality (the race-tuned suspension does not meet local regulations).

"Suddenly, people realised just how quick, just how special this car is. There will be 500 and there will be no more," stated Cramb.

He said of the 10 cars sold in Australia to date, four were bought by dealers who planned to keep them as showroom display pieces and as collectors' items, five were bought by private buyers and one was owned by Lexus Australia as a promotional vehicle.

The first customer cars arrived this month, with the remainder to be delivered over the next 12 to 18 months.

Each car is hand built to the owner's taste. One buyer was warned that his garish colour selection may affect the sale-ability of the vehicle at a later date. "But he said 'mate, I'm not going to sell it'," said Cramb.
 
The LF-A is powered by a 4.8-litre V10 (412kW and 480Nm) and can sprint from rest to 100km/h in 3.7 seconds. It has a top speed of 325km/h.

It is the first Lexus with launch control. Talk about over-engineering: it has been built to withstand 255 repetitive quick take-off starts.

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