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The reason why Lexus corporate lets their dealers "buy" these cars is very simple. The LFA wasn't ever designed to pay for its self, it was supposed to sell other Lexus products which would eventually pay back for the time and money they put in R&D.
If you walk in to a dealership that has a LFA in the showroom it's more likely for you to buy ISF or a F sport Is250/350. I can use myself as an example, because of my positive experience with Lexus I suddenly developed lots of interest in the brand and i'm already thinking about trading in my 04 TSX for a 06+ IS250/350.
A Lexus LFA is on eBay with 66 miles. The current bid stands at $170,000 and the reserve has not yet been met:
Awesome, exotic cars are cool, what's even cooler is watching their huge depreciation unfold
I hope it doesn't get too cheap, I do hope my next weekend sports car to be Italian instead of another rice. But if it does drop to a screaming deal, the cheapskate in me have no choice but to buy yet another Toyota.
yes the one at northside lexus is for sale. It is on the showroom floor ropped around. been at the dealer for 4 days now. originally it was at westside lexus (a sister store for northside lexus) in houston. It was the owner of both dealerships car and then he changed his mind on it. Has 100 miles on it - guy just drove it around then now has it for sale, still untitled car
It seems like a lot of dealers are "changing their minds" on it. I can't believe Lexus sold as many LFA's as they did to dealers. What did they expect was going to happen? They're all trying to unload before it gets worse. It's starting to look like a resale disaster waiting to happen.
Actually what a lot of dealers/owners do is title it for the short term, sell it back to the dealership, and then price it over MSRP as a used car. That way they can get around the new car gouging, prohibited by the manufacturer. You'll see this behavior in many high end dealerships with special edition, limited run, or even newly released exotics. This is what I suspect as the intention of these dealership owners, except they didn't anticipate sales being this weak. Now they're dumping it into the market to avoid any potential or further losses. I can bet that bids won't reach the reserve in that ebay ad. If Lexus is having a hard time selling them brand new at MSRP, just imagine how difficult it would be to get the same or more, pre-owned.