Lexus supercar comes with CEO

Lexus' first supercar has a top speed of more than 300km/h but it will take owners to a place other supercars rarely go: straight to the top of the company.

Each local LF-A sale will be handled personally by the chief executive of Lexus Australia, John Roca -- and if you'll pardon the hackneyed phrase, he's looking to do a deal.

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. "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."

Even in the current economic environment -- and despite the whopping price tag -- he said Lexus could sell between five and 10 cars.

In additional to personal service from the Lexus boss, LF-A customers would be treated to an ultimate customer experience, including flying to Japan to see the car be built and track days for special tuition.

The LF-A is the Japanese maker's first supercar. It has been a long time coming; the concept car was unveiled in 2003 and the production version is due to be unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show in late October.

The LF-A is due on sale in Japan and Europe early next year and in local showrooms by the end of 2010.

The LF-A is powered by a high revving 4.8-litre V10 that has in excess of 367kW, or 500hp in the old money.

Lexus is said to have had an internal target of a top speed of more than 350km/h, so it could overtake some of its European rivals, although the car maker is yet to announce such vital statistics.

The LF-A's body shape was designed in a wind tunnel to slip through the air as efficiently as possible.

The core structure of the car is made of high strength, lightweight carbon fibre, the same technology used in Formula One.

As part of its research into carbon-fibre road cars, Lexus bought a million-dollar Mercedes-McLaren SLR supercar -- and then cut it in half. Lexus had been considering making the LF-A's frame from aluminium but went with carbon fibre instead after this experiment.

What's unclear are the plans for the hybrid version. The company began developing both the V10 and hybrid versions of the LF-A at the same time, but the company decided to develop the V10 first.

The Carsales Network understands that Lexus originally planned to build only one car or the other, but it now seems likely the hybrid may follow the V10 in about two years. A drop-top is also planned.

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