gavriil

By Mac Gordon

After thirteen years of dismaying sales and a bath of red ink for its parent Nissan, Infiniti has turned the corner in no uncertain terms. Infiniti’s U.S. sales zoomed 23 percent last year — and a segment-topping 41 percent in the first quarter of 2003 — thanks to lively demand for car-of-the-year G35 and new FX35/FX45 SUVs.

The 162 Infiniti dealers couldn’t be more pleased, after more than a decade of being badly outsold by Toyota’s Lexus luxury brand it started in business with 13 years ago. Lexus is still dominant, but Infiniti is making waves with its new products. As Infiniti dealer Dave Hutton of Los Angeles exults, “We sold 75 G35 sedans and coupes last month, compared to 50 Infinitis all told a month before the new G35 came on board a year ago. It’s like a brand new franchise.”

What saved Infiniti from being scuttled after Renault bought a 44-percent stake in a near-moribund Nissan in 1990 was a decision by Carlos Ghosn, the newly-named CEO of Nissan, to roll the dice on the luxury brand. Ghosn named a top Renault product developer, Patrick Pelata, to design new rear-drive cars for Infiniti with high-performance engines. The G35’s 3.5-liter V-6 generates 260 hp, nearly 20 percent more than luxury rivals BMW 330i and Mercedes-Benz C320.

Starting at a $27,100 MSRP, the G35 has ramped up sales to about 5000 cars a month in short order, prompting Infiniti Division general manager Mark McNabb to fret that dealers should be braced for unaccustomed high numbers lest their quality of service suffer. FX sales, meanwhile, started out above the 2000-a-month mark in February, surprisingly nearly even with competitors BMW X5 and Mercedes M-Class.

“When you’re hot, you’re hot,” says owner John Capps of the nine-luxury-brand Plaza Motor Mall in St. Louis, Missouri. His office is in the Infiniti building, overlooking a suddenly busy showroom. —

chef chris

Good for Infiniti...hopefully they'll do something with their ass-ugly Nissan cars of late. I've always thought they made excellent cars, but the new max & alt look like pieces of shiit.

1SICKLEX

Well, like Acura, the cheap cars sell but not the expensive ones, so this means minimum profits. I don't count any SUV/Wagon thing, they sell no matter who makes em.

Yes, you got to give it to them a lil. But honestly, like Acura outside 2 models (TL/MDX and G35/FX) the rest of the line needs help. Nissan is making HUGE waves in general with their products. They realized that people are very concerned with looks and image and speed(Those cars equipped) and that is what they aimed for and are having huge success. We'll see long term, as the Altima forum has recall sticky's on their forum since it's inception.

I mean, math can scew some numbers. The dealer said they only sold 50 Infinitis the previous calender month and sold 75 G35s that same month the following year. So it is a huge jump but it's still a small fish in the ocean.

They also totally fail to mention the huge moral destroyer the Q45 is. That car was supposed to be the car, the FLAGSHIP to turn Infiniti around, not the G35. The M45 sells slow too, and it's new here.

Infiniti though, will sell what they can. Can't blame em.
competition is good. Good turnaround Infiniti.

heyitsme

i'm glad, infiniti is a good company and they are usually right behind lexus in quality. i hope they can put as much passion into the next m45 and q45 as they have the g35 and fx.

riceboy

i think q45 is a great car i would get one over the ls430