Infiniti Can’t Stop Talking About The QX50’s Interior – Here’s Why

Infiniti unveiled its 2019 QX50 crossover at the end of 2017, touting its “Powerful Elegance” design, innovative 2.0-liter VC-Turbo petrol engine and, of course, its high-quality interior.

Actually, it all started with the QX50 Concept, which featured multiple types of leather inside the cabin, from genuine, to semi-aniline and even synthetic nubuck. It sported brown leather on the upper layer of the cabin and white leather on the lower dashboard, door trim and seats.

Then came the contrasting navy blue synthetic nubuck that was spread throughout. It’s the exact same combination we see today on the 2019 QX50 crossover, which features a truly complex interior design philosophy, one that even resulted in a Wards Auto award as one of the top 10 best interiors of 2018.

Fast forward to the present day and Infiniti is still talking about the QX50’s cockpit, having just released additional information detailing the design process, types of materials used and everything else that went into building such an attractive-looking environment for both driver and passengers.

Japanese luxury

The automaker’s designers relied on two traditional Japanese philosophies in order to create the QX50’s interior, ‘mitate’ and ‘shitate’, two techniques that complement each other, “encouraging and enabling craftspeople to imbue their work with an elevated sense of artistry”.

Mitate is all about bringing together the best possible selection of materials, focusing on contrast and how everything fits together. Shitate, on the other hand, focuses on execution and how to bring forward the best qualities of a certain combination of materials.

When it was time to put together the production QX50, designers went with a cabin trimmed in genuine, matte-finish, open-pore maple treated in a way that allows the wood to retain its natural characteristics in both texture as well as appearance. As for the leather, Infiniti used a new manufacturing technique to wrap and sew the crossover’s dashboard.

In the end, you end up with one, two or even three-tone color schemes that make the QX50’s interior look surprisingly exclusive. Which, Infiniti hopes, is yet another thing that might lure you into its compact luxury SUV.