i think they realized sometimes it's better to be known for making a car that raises the standards for other supercars while not being considered one itself.. or something similar to that... knowing that you put your greatest minds behind the engineering of the car and that it turned out wonderfully just might be enough for nissan.... afterall, what japanese auto maker is going to even challenge the gt-r? lexus's lf-a?
I get what you mean, and that kind of image does well for a lot of vehicles that are technically sports cars that offer supercar performance without the accompanying price of admission. Both the GT-R and Z06 are perfect examples of this, seeing how they're relatively inexpensive for the performance while being easy to live with on a daily basis compared to those same supercars that they challenge so valiantly. And while the two cars are very different, they are each other's most likely competitors (performance-wise, not customer-wise) for the money. The Lexus LF-A won't really compete with the GT-R since both its setup and price are completely different from the GT-R's.
while i would rather take an m5 over a gt-r just because i personally like the looks of the m5 better than the gt-r and i still prefer a sedan to smaller sports car, the gt-r is still a bargain for 70k+....
And I'm sure a lot of people will feel that way. Not everybody prioritizes supercar performance for sports car money above all, seeing how the type of driving that would make use of the car's abilities isn't something that many people do.
i like the lf-a, the car sounds sexy. i think it might even beat the gtr. but that car will cost well over 100k. im guessing nearing 200k
It's possible, though all we've had are unconfirmed claims... i.e., the engineers expecting the car to do 7:24 (though I recall no one having timed it on the 'Ring and publicly releasing the results), the engine size and output, etc. Nothing has been rock-solid info that at least has been backed up by someone reputable, whether from inside Toyota or not. Oh, by the way, the car has been said by Toyota heads to be in the neighborhood of $220k... probably base price too. This car is going to be retardedly expensive for a Toyota/Lexus product, regardless of the fact that it utilizes a monocoque or whatever justifications LF-A fans might have. I'm not the type to let a brand be the reason to turn me away from what is actually a good product, but when it realistically costs close to a quarter-million dollars, that's a whole different story.