In May this year, the Nissan group announced that it had come to an agreement and signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with auto manufacturer Magna Steyr for the assembly of a new, Mercedes-Benz-based, Infiniti compact model in Austria.
Well, this is not going to happen as on Friday, the Japanese automaker issued a statement saying that, even though Infiniti is moving ahead with plans to develop the compact model with a scheduled launch in 2015 (and not in 2014, as originally stated), it won’t be built by Magna Steyr, but instead, it will produce the car itself.
“Infiniti ended the feasibility study this week and has decided to produce the vehicle in-house in a European production facility as part of the brand’s overall expansion production plans. All design, engineering and development work continues on schedule,” the automaker said in a statement.
Infiniti added that the compact model will be manufactured at an as-of-yet, undisclosed European assembly plant, with the location and more product details to be announced closer to the start of production.
The Japanese brand’s premium compact model will share a platform developed with Mercedes, based on the latter’s MFA platform architecture used on cars like the 2012 A-Class and the upcoming CLA four-door coupe.
The Infiniti model is believed to be loosely based on the Etherea concept (pictured here) from the 2012 Geneva Motor Show.
INFINITI ETHEREA CONCEPT 
