Gone are the stickers and the camouflage, the wild spoilers and the additional XXL high-beam lights, the roll cage and the stripped-out interior. The gleaming white wonder posing in pit lane at the Nürburgring Formula 1 circuit looks like a distant relative of the race car that competed in the twenty-four-hour endurance run earlier this year. What we see here - four weeks prior to the official launch at the Tokyo Motor Show - is the first undisguised production car, one of only 500 LFAs to be made, estimated to cost a breathtaking $350,000 to $400,000. This dramatically different Japanese sports car combines high technology with maximum user-friendliness. It is a blend of extreme engineering and exquisite craftsmanship, top-notch performance and easy accessibility, uncompromising driver involvement and total control. There are more powerful and faster sports cars out there, but very few deliver their talents in a more focused and more emotional manner than the new Lexus flagship.

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