Lexus cranked up the wick on rumors of a spiritual successor to the LFA supercar last month when it revealed the “Sport Concept” at Monterey Car Week. Our spy photographers in Europe have now captured the LFR in multiple forms, from mild to wild, and now we’re getting our first look at the new hybrid coupe’s interior.
The LFR’s progress has been well-documented, but this is our first look at the new super-coupe’s interior. Our spies only caught a couple frames of the cabin, and a good bit of it remains covered, but there are some interesting tidbits to unpack here.
For starters, if you were expecting a manual transmission, well, sorry. The LFR’s console-mounted transmission controls are visible here, and appear to be production-ready parts. We can see wheel-mounted paddles behind the flat-bottom steering wheel, and the dash has a traditional instrument hood topping the cluster.
We can also see most of the infotainment and climate control system, complete with a very chunky, borderline truck-like set of controls beneath the screen. We can’t say for certain that these are truly physical buttons, but their positioning apart from the glass gives us hope. The sides of the center stack show some latticework that could be either the result of 3D printing, or simply a nod to it. All in, it looks an awful lot like the cabin that was surreptitiously snapped when the prototype went up the hill at Goodwood earlier this year. It remains to be seen just how much of that is final.
And man, just look at this thing. It’s wide, it’s low and it’s rocking some serious aero. Lexus was testing it against both a Mercedes-AMG GT R and a GT Black Series—some serious bogeys when it comes to keeping pace at the Nürburgring. Now that we’ve seen the Sport Concept, Lexus has less to hide, but the camo on these prototypes remains fairly comprehensive. One component of that disguise gave Lexus some grief, and helped me solve my lingering puzzle.
When we first saw the Sport Concept, the teaser video included some aerial “footage” of a rendered prototype with an odd element lurking beneath its rear glass. It looked conspicuously like an engine cover, but given the prevailing rumors that the LFR would be a traditional front-engine coupe based on an ICE powertrain, I wrote it off. Well, turns out it was something after all, and Lexus was having trouble keeping it covered while it was lapping the ‘Ring.
Yep, that appears to be a component of the LFR’s hybrid system. So while there may not be an internal-combustion engine under that cover, there may well be an electric motor or two straddling the LFR’s rear axle.
Lexus offered essentially no information about the Sport Concept when it was revealed, and hasn’t really given us anything more since. Hopefully, it won’t be long before we get the full story. You can browse our full gallery of spy shots below.
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Byron is a contributing writer and auto reviewer with a keen eye for infrastructure, sales and regulatory stories.