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Lexus LFA Nürburgring Package from Goodwood last year |
Throughout this week,
TheTruthAboutCars will run a 5-part series on the inner goings on of the Lexus LFA Works - that's the birthplace of the awesome LFA halo car in Japan. TTAC got exclusive first-hand access to the Motomachi plant in Japan to check out how the car is made. It's no secret that
I love the LFA. This article is a must read, even if you don't have such passion about the car as I do. Part 1 was just published. Here's a short extract. Have a read for the full article
here.
Until today, this door was closed to the media. One magazine, Japan’s
Car Graphic, was lucky to be invited in 2010 when the workshop still
geared up for work. After series production started in December of that
year, access to the LFA Works was limited to a privileged few. To be
admitted, serious amounts of money had to change hands. The buyer of a
$375,000 LFA was offered a tour of the premises – strictly without
camera. Today, this veil is about to lift. In a five day series, we will
show how the LFA is made, who makes it, and most of all, why.
At the door, I am greeted by Haruhiko Tanahashi. Tanahashi is Chief
Engineer of Toyota Motor Corporation’s Lexus Division, and he is the
proud father of the LFA. Ever the proud father, he likes to talk about
the birth of his child.
It started in a bar.
The Lexus LFA was born where many great ideas come to life:
In a bar.
“My boss and I sat in a bar in Hokkaido,” remembers Tanahashi, “and I
told my boss about the dream I had. I wanted to make the ultimate
sports car.” At this point, bosses usually call for the check, or the
submitter’s personnel file. Tetsuo Hattori, at the time the top vehicle
engineer at TMC, replied “why not” – and ordered another round in
celebration.
“February 10, 2000. – In Shibetsu, Hattori approves study of a real
sports car.” So reads the first entry in Tanahashi’s diary that until
this day chronicles the development of the LFA. In sparing sentences,
kept on an Excel spreadsheet, Tanahashi follows the incubation, birth
and first steps of his life dream.
After receiving a nod from his boss, Tanahashi did not waste time and
did not want to risk a change of mind at his superiors. A month after
the bar visit, the diary shows the first meeting of a quickly assembled
working group.
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