Unboxing The Obsessive Transport Of The Lexus LFA

The first production Lexus LFA supercars arrived in the United States on Tuesday, ready for what's likely the most obsessive delivery process ever for a vehicle. Did your car come with a personally signed note and its own semi truck?

In development for more than a decade, the LFA was meant to show Toyota's technical prowess in building a world-beating vehicle. The bloggers at Kaizen Factor were allowed to visit the dock in Long Beach, Calif., where the first three LFAs arrived Tuesday to see how the mindset that created the LFA extended to the simple act of hauling a car.

Unlike every other Toyota simply driven on and off giant transport ships, the LFA comes bolted down in its own cargo container, one vehicle per box, on a specially designed pallet. While most cars are wrapped in plastic to protect their paint from chipping during hauling, the LFA ships bare so that its paint can properly cure on the ride of up to 10 days from the Motomachi factory in Japan — where the quality control engineer left a note for the new owner.

After it's unbolted, white-gloved technicians carefully reconnect the battery, check out its systems and start it up to ensure it's ready for delivery.

The LFAs are then driven to a transporter typically used for race cars — once again, one LFA per box — from which they will be hauled to a dealership. To see the full set of pictures from the event, follow the link. [Kaizen Factor]