Infiniti has been around for 25 years now, but has yet to establish the luxury foothold that hometown rival Lexus has. The Nissan-owned marquis is attempting to rectify this.
They moved their headquarters to Hong Kong to gain autonomy and appeal to Chinese customers. They hired the former CEO of Audi USA, Johan de Nysschen. They unveiled a new performance concept. They confirmed a new compact lineup. Finally, they announced a joint manufacturing plant with Mercedes-Benz.
UK magazine AutoExpress sat down with Nissan Vice President Andy Palmer to gain more insight into Infiniti’s future. The luxury brand will aim to differentiate its new Q30 hatchback from the Nissan Pulsar. “The Q30 will have a much greater focus on handling,” Palmer said. “It’s very emotional in its design, and there will be a number of derivatives of it.”
One of the expected variants is a crossover called the QX30. Palmer says, “We’ll work with lifestyle themes around the car… different environments it can work with, and different people it can work for. Not everyone wants a sport version… There’s a lot coming, watch this space.”
It is therefore possible that Infiniti could have just as sprawling a front-wheel drive lineup as partner Mercedes-Benz. The Infinitis will be based on the CLA platform, and will be built alongside small Benzes in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Furthermore, Infiniti has already confirmed production at Nissan’s British manufacturing base in Sunderland. This means the company will have broad production capacity to realize its ambitions.
When asked about a production version of the Emerg-E Concept, Palmer did not dismiss it. “There’s room in the mid-term plan for a halo car of the Emerg-E nature. The design execution still needs some discussion, though. But yes, you can see a halo car in our future.” Palmer did suggest a production car would not have a purely electric drivetrain. Instead, he views hybrids as “progressive,” while still leaving room for profit. If and when Infiniti launches a supercar, expected to be an Acura NSX rival.
Finally, Palmer confirms Infiniti is interested in building an electric car. It would use components from the next-generation Nissan Leaf. Infiniti would differentiate it from that lesser model by incorporating wireless charging, for added convenience.
These are exciting times at Infiniti. The next five years will determine if Infiniti can climb another rung on the luxury ladder, of it is a perpetual also-ran.
By Nico Grant
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