It’s already one of the rarest supercars on the planet – but Lexus has gone a stage further with this special edition LF-A.

Called the “Nurburgring Edition”, it honours the famous German racing circuit where the LF-A was developed. Inspired by the competition versions that raced at the 20.8 kilometer track, it gets a huge fixed rear wing and front splitter, stiffer, more adjustable suspension and lightweight alloys with track-spec tyres.

Lexus engineers have also liberated an extra 7 kW from the LF-A’s 4,8-litre V10 engine, taking total power output to 419 kW. A range of four colours will be available – including gloss black, matte black and orange – while the production run is expected to be tiny, given that just 500 examples of the ‘standard’ LF-A will be built. Expect a price tag in excess of £400 000, or around R4.6 million.

Adapted from AutoExpress

For a Ferrari and Lamborghini challenging supercar with a hefty US$375 000 price tag, one would expect that Lexus and its parent company, Toyota, would at least avoid offering any sort of “Fast and Furious” style paint options – or the ability to customise the vehicle’s interior with weird colour combos on the all-new 412 kW V10-powered LF-A sports car. Well, think again.

As you can see for yourselves, by fooling around with the just launched LF-A online configurator, you can ‘rice-up’ the Japanese supercar in variety of eccentric exterior colors including ‘Passionate Pink’ and ‘Lavender’ that can be combined with coloured calipers and three different shades for the alloy wheels.

And that’s not all. Lexus also offers the ability to customize the LF-A’s interior by choosing diverse colours for the seats, the steering wheel, the carpet, the headliner, the door panels and lower part of the dashboard, just to mention a few.

Unfortunately for some, bobble heads, racing stripes and underbody neon lights are not available at this time.

Adapted from CarScoop

Lexus have given the press a first look at its exciting LFA model at the Tokyo Motor Show. The LF-A was officially launched to the news that only 500 examples of the two-seat coupe will be sold when production commences next year.

The pinnacle of Lexus’ ‘F’ range of premium sports cars (that includes models such as the IS-F), LF-A combines a high-output 4,8-litre V10, matched to meticulous aerodynamic and chassis design characteristics. The LF-A’s body consists of CFRB (Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastic) making it 100 kg lighter than a comparable aluminium body.

A low centre of gravity has been achieved via the use of a dry sump lubrication system, while weight distribution is bettered by locating peripheral engine components – such as the oil and water pumps – behind the engine. Optimal placement of the transmission and fuel tank have also helped centralise weight distribution to a more optimal range to give LF-A a 48:52 front-to-rear weight distribution ratio. The driver’s seat is positioned near the LF-A’s centre of gravity for improved communication.

Lexus expect a price tag of US$375 000 (approx.) when customer selection begins in the second-quarter of 2010. Sales will be limited to 500 examples with pre-sales expressions of interest accepted from today.

Adapted from CarAdvice

Toyota recently revealed the highly-anticipated FT-86 Concept that will be shown at the Tokyo Motor Show happening soon. Many excited about this new Toyota, but the Japanese auto maker only released a few images of the sports concept, up to now that is.

We now have a total of 44 new images of the FT-86 to share with you. However we still need wait until the concept makes its debut for juicier details, such as power figures and more. We do know that it has a Subaru-sourced 2,0-litre boxer engine under the hood and that Subaru will also produce its own version of the FT-86. Furthermore, Subaru is also like to roll out a high-performance STI version.

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Adapted from iCars

An old Japanese favourite looks set to return. This is the Toyota FT-86 Concept, a hark back to the rear-wheel-drive Corolla AE86 of the mid 1980′s.

Once again, the power is sent to the back, its source being a Subaru 2,0-litre boxer engine. While power and performance figures haven’t been released, an Impreza with the same engine has 110 kW and 196 N.m of torque on tap, sending the 1 345 kg hatchback to 100 km/h in 9.2sec.

Expect much sprightlier acceleration from the FT-86 though, which is set to focus on weight-saving and optimised aerodynamics, with the engine mounted as low as possible up front to keep the centre of gravity down. We’re still hoping that a turbocharger makes its way under the hood though.

It certainly looks the part, in concept form at least. It looks every inch the baby LF-A, a scaled down supercar and the dose of excitement Toyota’s range craves. It should be a more than able competitor to the VW Scirocco, Volvo C30 and the rest of the small coupe class.

Fingers crossed the styling doesn’t change too much should the FT-86 make the transition to road car. The same probably can’t be said for the interior. Impressive as it is, it’s unlikely we’ll see zipped leather dashboards and those striking seats on a production-spec budget coupe.

Should it get the go ahead (and we’d be surprised if it doesn’t), expect FT-86 sales by 2011 and a price tag to rival its R300 000 rivals. The concept will be shown at this month’s Tokyo motor show, where Honda’s rival CR-Z coupe is also on show.

Adapted from Evo