LEXUS LFA
CODENAME: ELECTR IFIED SPORT S CONCEPT
DRIVETRAIN: DUAL E-MOTORS, AWD
POWER: 1,000–ISH BHP, 0–62MPH IN 2.0SECS
WEIRDEST FEATURE: THE FLYING BUTTRESSES. IT’S NOT THAT WEIRD, TBH
VERDICT: IT’S A TOUGH JOB SUPPLANTING THE LFA, BUT THE LESC HAS THE LOOK
“THE LESC CAN’T POSSIBLY HOLD A CANDLE TO THE LFA. BUT IT CAN TRY”
IN TERMS OF UNENVIABLE JOBS, TRYING TO DESIGN the electric version of a legendary car whose identity consisted largely of its V10 petrol engine is up there with eating water with a fork. The Lexus LFA was a pointless masterpiece of a thing, centred around a 4.8-litre naturally aspirated V10 engine engineered by people with IQs larger than their budget lines. It developed 552bhp, most of which manifested as a noise that could summon the old gods and make F1 cars blush, an enormous roadgoing motorsport trumpet, braying beautiful horsepower. The Lexus Electrified Sports Concept cannot possibly hold a candle to that unique moment in Lexus’s production history, because, bluntly, it can’t.