Racing toward its 2010 model year debut, the Lexus supercar, spied during testing at the famed Nurburgring, is being developed to compete with no less than the Ferrari F430 and other high-strung sports cars.
About the same size as the F430, the LF-A as shown at Detroit in '06 is about two inches shorter than a Porsche 911, but has about nine extra inches of wheelbase.
Its powerplant is still a question. Originally conceived as a tribute to Toyota's Formula One prowess, that team has yet to score a victory, and besides, they're running V-8s now instead of V-10s.
So the rumored 500-plus-horsepower V-10 might instead be a twin-turbo V-8 based on the LS' 5.0-liter engine. It needs at least 600 horses and a top speed of about 200 mph to play in the ultra-sport field.