Thank you everyone for your feedback on our announcement yesterday. We know this is a big change and we truly appreciate your perspective as Infiniti enthusiasts.

Dear Infiniti Fans,

We love you dearly. And we know you love the brand. Which means it’s only natural that you may feel surprised by the announcement that we plan to change our nomenclature philosophy. No one likes change.

It was a tough decision, we like our current model names as much as you do. But we had no choice but to change. Let me explain.

1. We are embarking on a massive product offensive, and these new cars need names. There are no suitable combinations of Alphanumeric naming options remaining which are not already trademarked by another automaker. In order to expand our line up with the fascinating new models we are developing, we must create a more flexible nomenclature philosophy.

2. Our new advanced technology engines under development will be smaller, lighter, more fuel efficient yet more powerful. And we will introduce some exhilarating performance machines in the future. I'm sure you will agree, it would be a bit odd to have a powerful, luxurious and refined V8 powered Infiniti M56, then position a new high-tech 550+ horsepower performance flagship for the Infiniti M range above it, using a potent charged induction V6, but then call it Infiniti M30, which we would be obliged to do, following our current naming logic.

3. Infiniti is becoming a global brand now, we are already active in almost 50 countries, the majority only very recently. Our new customers are unfamiliar with the brand and struggle to understand our range hierarchy. Is a JX above or below an FX? Where does an EX fit? What is the relationship between G and Infiniti M? Research confirms the majority of newcomers to our brand consider the naming to be somewhat arbitrary and confusing.

4. Infiniti owns the naming assets of Q plus double digit, and QX plus double digit. And it is a permanent part of our heritage.

So the solution is pretty straightforward - use Q for cars, QX for crossovers, and double digits in increments of ten, to denote hierarchy, linked to the price point of the model, not size and not engine displacement. And no, we won’t call all-wheel drive models Q50X or QX50X. The fact that a model may feature four wheel drive, will be indicated by specific badging describing this feature on the car, and is not part of the model name.

The really exciting implication of all this, is that it prepares the way for the introduction of several fascinating new models, above and below the current line up, a wider range of powertrains, including some truly stunning performance cars in our future.

So there is only good news for all Infiniti fans around the globe. We are working very hard to bring you great products, a great brand and a compelling ownership experience. And we are really confident you will love the new Q50. It's simply that good.

Warmest regards

Johan de Nysschen
President

Infiniti Motor Company Limited

Infiniti Red Bull Racing's top Formula One engineer, Adrian Newey, is being brought further into the Infiniti fold. Though what new projects he might work his magic on have yet to be delineated, something outlandish is to be expected.

Nissan Executive VP Andy Palmer told Top Gear that "Adrian is itching to do something new," and when asked whether that something new could mean an Infiniti supercar, merely answered, "Watch this space."

While noncommittal to say the least, the Infiniti-Red Bull deal is one of Palmer's babies, a deal that saw Nissan's luxury marque take over title sponsorship of the Red Bull F1 team and rebrand the engines of corporate bedmate Renault. That hasn't stopped wildfire rumors of an Infiniti supercar borne from its F1 efforts from spreading across the internet.

Of late, Newey has expressed dissatisfaction with F1, saying regulations are threatening to make the series a "glorified GP2" consisting of identical cars with different sponsors. Newey also recently turned down an $34 million offer to rescue Ferrari's F1 team from its current state.

Newey is an expert aerodynamicist who was responsible for designing the Red Bull X1 and virtual Red Bull X2014 for the Gran Turismo video game franchise. In the real world, Newey was responsible for the F1 cars that carried Sebastien Vettel to his four-year winning streak from 2010-13.

Infiniti plans to expand its model lineup by 60 percent by the end of the decade, including a new coupe that will compete with the BMW 4-Series.

To help with its ambitious efforts, Nissan's luxury marque opened a new design center in London this week. According to the automaker, in the past 18 months alone there have already been 10 new Infiniti models penned, including the upcoming Q80 Inspiration debuting at the Paris Motor Show next month.

Speaking at the ribbon-cutting, the company's chief creative officer and design head Shiro Nakamura explained the new studio: "This is the first step of a global initiative to purify and reinforce the distinctiveness of Infiniti design." He then revealed studios would soon open in San Diego and Beijing as well.

Infiniti executive design director Alfonso Albaisa added, "with our new generation models, we want... a new romanticism, and London is a great place to find the inspiration for it. London buzzes with youthful excitement."

Nakamura-san also revealed, as reported by Top Gear, that a BMW 4-Series fighting coupe will appear within a year. Size-wise, it will split the difference between BMW's 4- and 6-Series. The car would likely replace the Q60 -- which is currently a rebadged previous-generation Infiniti G37 Coupe -- with design cues taken from the Q80 Inspiration.

What's more, Nakamura also said that if the Infiniti Q50 Eau Rouge, the sedan powered by a Nissan GT-R's 560-horsepower twin-turbo V6, makes it to production, there could be a coupe Eau Rouge as well.

Nissan Motor Co. (7201)’s Infiniti premium brand named former Bayerische Motoren Werke AG executive Roland Kruger as president after defections by the Japanese carmaker’s leaders including Andy Palmer.

Kruger, a 48-year-old German national who was a senior vice president at BMW, will be based at Infiniti’s Hong Kong headquarters and report to Carlos Ghosn, Nissan’s chief executive officer, the company said in a statement.

Palmer, who oversaw the Infiniti unit as Nissan’s chief planning officer, resigned last week to lead Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd., after Infiniti President Johan de Nysschen left for General Motors Co. (GM)’s Cadillac brand in July. Nissan and Infiniti have been recruiting executives from rivals since the carmaker set up the headquarters for its luxury brand in Hong Kong two years ago, as Ghosn counts on premium sales to help raise the company’s operating margin to 8 percent by March 2017.

Infiniti sales rose to a record this year, helped by China demand that more than doubled from a year earlier, as it targets 10 percent of the world premium market by 2020 to challenge Volkswagen AG’s Audi, BMW and Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz.

“Roland Kruger has a consistent record of high performance in the premium automotive sector,” Ghosn said in the statement.

A lot can change in a year, especially in the auto industry it would seem. Not long ago, senior Nissan and Infiniti execs were touting some pretty radical performance offerings but now it looks like the cars are all off the table.
In the Nissan camp, there were plans for an electric sports car based on the delta-shaped BladeGlider concept car as well as a potential Scion FR-S rival previewed by the well-received IDx Freeflow and IDx NISMO concepts.

Over at Infiniti, we were close to seeing the automaker finally launch the equivalent of a GT-R sedan in the form of the Q50 Eau Rouge, which featured the GT-R’s 560-horsepower powerplant and an all-wheel drive system. The car was even being worked on by four-time Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel.

Well, Vettel is now driving for Ferrari and other key backers of the cars mentioned above are also at new companies. Nissan lost its product chief Andy Palmer to Aston Martin, and Infiniti lost its chief Johan de Nysschen to Cadillac.

Automotive News (subscription required) is now reporting that both Nissan and Infiniti will focus on more volume models in an effort to boost market share. This is particularly true for Infiniti, which is still in the early stages of growing its brand in global markets.

Michael Bartsch, Infiniti’s U.S. chief, said no final decision had been reached on the Q50 Eau Rouge but conceded that Infiniti had more pressing concerns, such as rebuilding its portfolio with strong core products. These include the next-generation Q60 as well as new entry-level models like the Q30 and QX30 and a proper flagship based on the Q80 Inspiration concept.

While for Nissan, the production BladeGlider was always going to be a moonshot, the production IDx did seem plausible. The good news is that a car like one of the IDx concepts is not completely dead. We’re hearing that Nissan will incorporate elements of the IDx for its next-generation Z sports car, repositioning it as a more basic sports offering and leaving the GT-R to sit in the powerful grand touring segment.

2018 Infiniti QX50 (***) and other Infiniti redesigns

From @Carmaker1 :

I have some news for those that own the current QX50 and that of the EX22d, EX35, and EX37 under the J50 model code. Please do not ask me about my sources, as I cannot do that due to legalities.

The QX Inspiration Concept, which made its debut at the Beijing Motor Show in April 2016, is indeed the next generation QX50. The next generation QX50 will go into production at Nissan's Aguascalientes plant in November 2017 and is being partly developed in Mexico as well under a codename (P**) I cannot fully disclose how I know this, especially in how it has not been released by the press. It will no longer be under the "Skyline" family in domestic market (Japan).

It will ride on the front-wheel drive CMF platform shared with Renault and Nissan brand products. The body design/styling was approved in mid-2014 by the Shiro Nakamura and the company board of directors.

The 2016 model year to present QX50 LWB was delayed from an earlier release date, intended for the 2014.5/2015 model year. Design work on the re-engineered J50 was finalized as early as late 2012 and shown in prototype form since early 2013 in private conferences, alongside the new Q30, QX30, rejected Q60 design proposal, and MY2015 changes to the Q70 and QX80.

Next Generation QX60 (L51)
Will arrive for the 2019 model year. Design work concluded in the first week of January 2016 with concept selection and production body design freeze was in July 2016. Production will begin in late 2018.

Next Generation QX70 (S52)

Will arrive in 2018 as a more versatile CUV, with an emphasis on sportiness. The design of that particular product has been frozen (no more design work) for 1 year and is on its way soon. The light refresh for MY2017 in July 2016 for the current S51, is meant to be as a placeholder, as engineers build and test prototypes, then validate the S52. Not being a QX70 forum, I will not elaborate on that or other Infiniti offerings too much.

The Next Generation QX80 (Z64-5)
Has also been designed and will arrive within the next 30 months, based on the next generation Nissan Patrol. The new Nissan Armada in the US did not affect the cadence of it.

Next Generation Q70 (Y52)
Will not arrive next year as speculated, but in August 2018 at earliest as a MY2019. Styling was frozen in 2015.

Next Generation Q50 (V38)
It is in development, as are more changes to the V37 Q50 saloon for the 2018 model year in the form of cosmetic enhancements. That will go on sale 1 year from now and the V38 Q50 for the 2021MY in late 2020. Styling will be decided on as early as next year.

The new Q60 (V37) might see a refresh in mid-2019, ahead of a redesign for the 2022 model year related to the V38 saloon.

The Q45 replacement, originally put on hold 7 years ago and teased as the Q80 Inspiration Concept in 2014, will go into production in 2018 for the 2019 model year. It is also intended as the replacement for the Nissan President (JDM).

For some reason, 2018 will be a very busy year for Infiniti and it will be interesting to see how so many product launches are be managed smoothly.

Infiniti, the luxury brand of Japanese automaker Nissan, will start phasing out gas-powered vehicles in 2021 and switch to “all electrified” models, the maker’s new CEO Hiroto Saikawa said Tuesday afternoon.

Making an appearance at the Automotive News World Congress in Detroit — his first in the U.S. since succeeding Carlos Ghosn as Nissan Motor Co. CEO last April — Saikawa also suggested that the Euro-Asian Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance could look to add a fourth partner.

“Infiniti will have a specific focus on electrification,” said Saikawa, adding, “We are trying to position Infiniti as the premier electrified brand” as part of the five-year Nissan business plan that will extend through 2022.

The announcement came as something of a surprise because Infiniti had previously signaled its intent to migrate to another breakthrough technology, the VC-T engine. More formally known as the Variable-Compression Turbo engine, it is the first mass-production powertrain that can adjust its compression ratio — anywhere from 8:1 to 14:1 — to yield the best balance between performance, fuel economy and emissions. It appears that new engine will be used in the near term but eventually phased out.

The engine recently debuted in the new QX50 crossover and will continue to be phased into other Infiniti models — at least until Infiniti apparently phases it out in favor of new battery-based technology.

That will include two different approaches to electrification, Saikawa said, including pure battery-electric models like the second-generation Leaf that the Nissan brand is just getting ready to roll into global showrooms.

A day earlier, Infiniti unveiled its Q Inspiration Concept at the Detroit auto show. That was also the same day Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV CEO Sergio Marchionne told the media electric cars are not worth the investment.

Other automakers used the North American International Auto Show as a chance to reaffirm commitments to electric vehicles. For example, Ford announced plans to spend $11 billion to launch 40 new electric vehicles by 2022.

Infiniti had actually scrubbed a plan to market a more upscale version of the first-generation Leaf early in the decade because it didn’t offer the level of refinement, range or performance that they believed luxury buyers would demand.

The latest versions of the technology offers significantly longer range and much improved refinement and performance — while battery costs have also plunged dramatically.

Along with pure battery-electric vehicles, Infiniti will add what Saikawa called e-Power models. These also are referred to as extended-range electric vehicles, and include such models as the Chevrolet Volt and BMW i3 REx. While similar to plug-in hybrids, they use onboard gasoline engines solely as generators to power their electric motors.

While Saikawa declared that all Infiniti models will go electric, he backtracked slightly, suggesting the strategy will exclude a handful of the brand’s largest SUV models, a list likely to include the massive, truck-based QX80.

Virtually the entire auto industry is on a path to electrify. Ford Motor Co. this week revealed it will launch 40 electrified models, including 16 pure battery-electric vehicles, over the next five years. General Motors Co. said it will have 20 all-electric inspirationmodels by 2023. Volkswagen will have 40 by 2025.

Beyond all-electric Tesla, the brand hewing closest to the Infiniti plan is Chinese-owned Volvo which last year said it will go all-electric on all new models launched after 2018. But that strategy includes conventional and plug-in hybrids, as well as pure battery-electric vehicles.

For the moment, battery-based vehicles have found relatively little acceptance in the global market. In the U.S., in particular, all forms generated barely 3 percent of total new vehicle sales in 2017, though with improvements in the technology and with manufacturers responding to government mandates, the Boston Consulting Group last month forecast electrified vehicles could account for 50 percent of global volume by 2035.

For Infiniti, that could happen for more quickly, at least if Saikawa is correct. “Our assumption for Japan by 2022 is that 40 to 45 percent of (Infiniti) sales will be electrified and the same for Europe.” By 2025, he added, that would reach 50 percent.

On the other hand, he saw lower acceptance in the U.S., “maybe 20 to 25 percent,” noting that Americans drive longer distances and use larger vehicles that will be slower to switch to battery power.

The Infiniti electrification plan was just one of the surprises the Nissan CEO dropped during his World Congress appearance. Asked about the recent addition of Mitsubishi to the Renault-Nissan Alliance, he said he hopes it will prove as successful as the original partnering has been.

“We need to demonstrate three is better than two,” said Saikawa, adding that, “If it is successful it will open the door to go from three to four.”

While it is far too soon to see if Mitsubishi, nearly bankrupt before it was rescued by Nissan in 2016, will be able to turn around, it has done once thing for the Alliance. Including the smaller maker’s sales has made it one of the three largest auto groups in the world and, some estimates have forecast, could let it leapfrog both Japanese arch-rival Toyota, as well as Volkswagen AG this year.