Why is Toyota selling a $400,000 car?

The Lexus LFA is designed to compete with the hottest hot rods. It's a breathtaking display of ego -- and the last thing Toyota needs to restore its tarnished brand.

By now, we should all be familiar with Toyota Motor's  woes. No sooner had the automaker finally ascended to the No. 1 global spot, displacing General Motors, now known as Motors Liquidation, than it began to hit speed bumps and potholes. There were historic financial losses, lawsuits and embarrassing, tragic recalls. At one point, it was widely believed that Toyota could do no wrong. All of a sudden, it could do no right.

Still, there was the usual peppy, multicolored, futuristic zaniness that is the TMS. Unfortunately, Toyota did little to redeem itself in the face of its recent troubles. Instead, the company made the decision to use the Tokyo show to showcase something that's arguably the last thing that Toyota needs right now: a 500- to 600-horsepower supercar, designed to match wheels with Ferraris and Lamborghinis.

It's called the LFA, and Toyota has badged it -- and I'm not kidding here -- as a Lexus. That's right, the preferred brand of Midwestern dentists and junior-grade Hollywood agents will no longer be limited to lushly quiet luxury sedans and mellow crossover SUVs for the soccer moms of northeastern New Jersey.

Now Lexus will have a V-10 powered, two-door rocket sled that can tackle Germany's famous Nurburgring test track in less than eight minutes. The car blogs have been agog over this impressive piece of mega-car for a while now, but the Tokyo show provided the opportunity to consider the LFA in granular detail.