QX30 Has A Date With Death, But An “All-Infiniti” Replacement Is In The Works

The Infiniti QX30 is only a few years old, but the model is already living on borrowed time.

In an interview with Motor Authority, Infiniti President Christian Meunier rather bluntly admitted the QX30 is “not a very successful product.” That’s putting it mildly as the company only managed to sell 8,101 units in the United States last year. To put that number into perspective, Mercedes sold over 24,000 GLAs which means their version of the crossover outsold the Infiniti by nearly 3:1.

Despite announcing plans to drop the model, this won’t happen overnight. As Meunier explained, “We’ll keep selling it for now, but this is not a product that has a future beyond its current life [cycle].”

While the QX30 wasn’t a hit with consumers, Infiniti isn’t going to abandon the booming compact crossover market. Instead, Meunier confirmed plans for a replacement and said the model will ride on an “all-Infiniti platform.” This would be a big change as the current crossover is underpinned by Mercedes’ MFA platform.

The platform might not be the only thing that is new as Meunier suggested the model will use a small displacement engine with variable-compression turbo technology. The system debuted on the 2019 QX50 in a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine that produces 268 hp (200 kW / 271 PS) and 280 lb-ft (379 Nm) of torque.

There’s no word on the displacement or output of the smaller VC-Turbo engine, but the current QX30 has a Mercedes-sourced turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder that develops 208 hp (155 kW / 211 PS) and 258 lb-ft (349 Nm) of torque. There’s speculation the new engine could also come paired with some form of electrification, but nothing is official as of yet.