Lexus Sent the Electric LFA Up Goodwood Without Warning

The electric Lexus LFA Concept made its first public runs at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July, after Lexus quietly added it to the hill climb sessions instead of leaving it parked as planned.

The car was originally scheduled only for static display in the festival’s Supercar Paddock, and it still wore camouflage wrap when it took to the course. It ran alongside Toyota Gazoo Racing’s GR GT and GR GT3 prototypes, which share some of its technology, during the event from July 9 to 12. The appearance came 17 years after the original V10 LFA made its debut in prototype form at the same festival.

Lexus’s UK release named six drivers who shared driving duties across the four days, though it didn’t say who drove which car. They were Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team driver Elfyn Evans, Toyota Racing vice chairman Kazuki Nakajima, development driver Hiroaki Ishiura, who works on the GR GT, GR GT3 and LFA Concept, four-time Super GT champion Sho Tsuboi, Super GT driver Yuichi Nakayama, and Nürburgring specialist Uwe Kleen.

The release added no technical details. Lexus still hasn’t published power, battery, range or performance figures for the car, which it first revealed in December 2025 as a battery-electric two-seater built on the GR GT’s aluminum body frame. Project general manager Yukihiro Yukita said the new LFA "will pursue delivery of a multi-sensory experience unique to Lexus" and called it "a car that provides an immersive experience like no other, imitating nothing else."

Whether that car reaches showrooms is still officially undecided, since Lexus continues to call it a concept. EV Central reported that reports after Goodwood pointed to a launch as early as 2027, and that concept designer Shogo Kasamatsu told Autocar the production car was close to completion and would closely resemble the concept. EV Central also noted that Car and Driver expects a later showroom arrival, in 2029.

The car’s next stop is Australia, where Lexus will show it for the first time at the Melbourne Cup Carnival at Flemington, next to the new TZ electric SUV and the RZ 600e F Sport Performance. Lexus Australia hasn’t announced sales plans or pricing.

The Toyota Report Take

Putting a camouflaged concept on a hill climb is what a company does with a car it intends to build, and the timing of the Goodwood run, 17 years after the first LFA appeared there, was clearly deliberate. If the production car really is close to finished, Lexus should start sharing numbers soon, because the electric LFA will be judged against rivals with published specs, not against memories of a V10.