Lexus LF-A snapped again

If this car takes any longer to make it into production Lexus may have to start designing a facelift for it.

The Lexus LF-A, the Japanese maker's first supercar, was unveiled five years ago in concept form, which means it has probably been in development for at least the last seven years. In the car world, this is known as an eternity.

It turns out that Lexus is so paranoid about getting its first supercar so right, it has been faffing about on even the finest details.

It has even raced a version of the car at the Nurburgring 24 hour race, but told journalists -- including those who got to drive it -- bugger all about the car.

The best guesses are that it is powered by a 4.8-litre V10 and has in excess of 500 horsepower (373kW) -- maybe as much as 550 horsepower (410kW).

We know it revs to 9000rpm so it should be an absolute screamer.

We also know it has a carbonfibre body but the rest of the detail is rather scant.

Lexus has not even confirmed the vehicle will go into production, although distributors around the world have their fingers crossed that the company will make an announcement at the Tokyo motor show in a few weeks' time.

Even though the car has not been given an official green light for production, the boss of Lexus Australia, John Roca, has said he will handle each local sale personally. Only 500 LF-As are said to be built, making them true collector's items.

The first three cars are already sold even before the showroom version of the LF-A has been unveiled -- and the price has been announced.

The LF-A is tipped to cost between $500,000 and $750,000 -- by far the most expensive Lexus ever made. But the company needs two more orders to help secure the LF-A for Australia.

"We've got three serious expressions of interest," the chief executive of Lexus Australia, John Roca, told the Carsales Network last month. "That is, we've had three people come back to us and say they'd definitely take the car. This is great news, but we need at least two more to make a business case."

Roca, a dealer for 17 years before he took the top job at Lexus Australia, said the first three buyers are existing Lexus customers.

"We plan to take this information to Japan and hopefully put a case together to get the car for Australia," he said. "We're still being cautious because the LF-A is not yet officially confirmed."

Roca says there is a strong desire to sell the car locally. "We're confident it will go into production. If it is made available to us we will definitely take it on because it would be great for the brand."

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STOP PRESS: Here's some neat LF-A video we spotted at Youtube. It shows the Lexus supercar performing at a Japanese Motorsport festival