The official name may be Infiniti Motor Company Limited yet this division is deeply intertwined with the parent firm and will become even more so. Nissan Motor and its partner Groupe Renault’s vehicle architectures, as well as Design, R&D and Manufacturing operations are very much part of what will define the next generation of Infiniti models.
By closing Infiniti’s global headquarters in Hong Kong and shifting the division to its own Yokohama base, Nissan Motor is sending a signal about just how expensive the age of electrification is already proving to be. This announcement, made on 29 May, notes that Infiniti will be ramping up development of its battery electric and e-Power offerings over the next three years and the move also “will help increase efficiencies across the business in a hyper-competitive, disruptive industry”.
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By GlobalDataNissan now says its luxury division’s future is centred on China and North America, although there will be a continued secondary focus on certain countries in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Oceania.
An exit from manufacturing in England, the end of diesel engines and a withdrawal from markets in Western Europe – these things have each either now taken place or are in the process of happening.
For now at least, there is still no official plan to launch the brand in Japan and Nissan is also quiet on the topic of Infiniti entering other rich markets. The next big change will be electrification with the brand’s first EV due for release in 2021, initially in China only. There is also much else coming in the way of additional models plus replacements for existing ones.
Cars
The Q50 has been in production since May 2013 so a new model is now only months away. This was confirmed earlier this month when Nissan stated that a new Skyline (the Japanese market’s Q50 equivalent) would “debut in the fall of 2019”. Production of the existing sedan should continue in China into 2020 though. The car manufactured there is a special extended wheelbase variant, the Q50L.
The Q60, a niche model, will soon reach mid-life, so a facelift is likely by 2020. This 4,683mm long coupe is offered with two versions of a biturbo 3.0-litre V6 as well as a turbocharged Mercedes-Benz four-cylinder alternative. Production at Nissan and Infiniti’s Tochigi plant commenced in August 2016.
Will there ever be a big sedan to return Infiniti to a segment it was present in for many years? There have been many rumours over the years that a Q80 was in development and also, quite a lot of evidence in the form of concepts. Still we wait for firm news from Nissan about such a model though.
Any revival of the Infiniti Q would likely be a rival for the Porsche Panamera rather than the Lexus LS. A preview in the form of the Q80 Inspiration concept was revealed at the Paris motor show in October 2014. There was another design study at the 2018 Detroit auto show: the Q Inspiration.
Crossovers and SUVs
The recently discontinued QX30 means Infiniti now has no equivalent of the Lexus UX, Audi Q3, Volvo XC40, BMW X1 and Mercedes GLA. A new QX30 or perhaps a QX40 might be manufactured at Renault-Nissan Alliance and Daimler’s Aguascalientes 2 plant in north-central Mexico in the early 2020s.
The 4,693mm long second generation QX50, available since early 2018, was the first model to be built at Aguascalientes 2, the previous shape model having been made in Japan. The Mexican factory is also known as COMPAS: Cooperation Manufacturing Plant Aguascalientes.
The former QX50L, a special long-wheelbase SUV for China, was manufactured by Dongfeng Infiniti Motor Co., Ltd. Thus far it has not had a direct replacement. Instead, the QX50 went into production at the same Dalian plant in April 2018. It was announced at that time that this would be the first of five models to be locally made within a five-year period. The others were not named. Infiniti has been tasked with tripling its Chinese market sales within five years using 2017, when a record 48,408 vehicles were delivered, as the base year.
The QX50 is available with a 2.0-litre four-cylinder version of VC-Turbo, the variable compression petrol engine which Infiniti premiered at the 2016 Paris motor show. The engine, codenamed KR20DDET, delivers 268hp (200kW) and 280 lb ft (380Nm). The standard CVT replicates the shifts of an eight-speed gearbox.
KR20DDET features a multi-link connecting-rod system. This is powered by an electric motor via what Nissan terms a “harmonic drive” reduction gear, the result being a continuously varied piston stroke of between 88.9mm and 90.1mm. This results in a variable displacement of between 1,990cc and 1,997cc, while the compression ratio varies from 8:1 (for high performance) to 14:1 (for high efficiency). Honeywell supplies the single-scroll turbocharger.
Without naming the architecture, Infiniti notes that this was its first model for a new platform. This “represents the first automotive use of SHF (Super High Formability) 980 MPa high-tensile steel. The high-tensile material can be moulded into unprecedented shapes, saving weight and representing a torsional rigidity improvement of 23% over the current QX50”, Infiniti stated in a press release issued ahead of the car’s world premiere at the LA auto show in November 2017. The platform is Daimler’s MFA 2.
There should be a facelift for the QX50 in 2021 and a successor in 2025.
The QX60 is a large seven-seater crossover which was originally known as the JX. Its global debut in concept form took place at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in California in August 2011 and the production version followed at the Los Angeles auto show three months later.
This vehicle is mostly for North America, the Middle East, Russia and China. The JX was the first Infiniti model to be made outside Japan and the first Infiniti to use a front-wheel drive platform since the i35 which was built between 1999 and 2004. The Nissan Pathfinder, announced by Nissan North America in July 2012, is closely related to the QX60 and is built at the same US plant.
The main news for North America’s 2014 model year was the name change from JX35 to QX60. Vehicles became available there from July 2013. The 2015MY QX60 was almost unchanged – only the CVT was modified. The 2016 model year QX60 had a mid-life facelift. This car had its world premiere at the Detroit auto show in January 2016. For the 2017 model year, the 3.5-litre V6 gained 30hp and now produces 295hp. A new high-priced model grade, Limited, was new for the 2019 model year. There is also a hybrid variant but this is no longer available in the USA.
The QX60 should have a minor facelift for the 2020 model year and then be replaced during calendar 2021.
A successor for the QX70 is long overdue. After several delays, the latest reports claim that production will commence during 2021. This large SUV will likely share a front- and all-wheel drive architecture with the next Nissan Murano.
The second generation QX80 is due out next year. The giant 4×4’s general look is expected to have been previewed by the QX80 Monograph, a concept which Infiniti showed to the media in April 2017 at an event in New York city. Infiniti’s biggest SUV should carry over its 5.6-litre V8 although Nissan’s VC-Turbo engine might also be available. This will be the one exception to a stated rule that all of the brand’s vehicles will in future offer some form of electrification.
The new model should again be able to seat up to eight occupants. It might have the same platform as the one developed by Mitsubishi Motors for multiple ladder-frame pick-up trucks such as the L200, Frontier and Alaskan replacements. The QX80’s main markets should continue to be the US, Canada, Russia, Australia and certain Gulf States.
Electrified
After having delayed plans to add an electric model some years ago, Nissan has given the go-ahead to produce an Infiniti EV. This was confirmed by Hiroto Saikawa in January last year and then confirmed only a few weeks ago.
Nissan Motor’s CEO further stated that Infiniti “will offer a mix of pure electric vehicles (EV) and e-Power vehicles”. Infiniti expects more than half its global sales to be comprised of electric vehicles by 2025, Saikawa added.
Infiniti is also being given its own architecture for all future models, with the exception of the QX80 replacement, which will of course use a body-on-frame construction. The new platform was announced at the Beijing motor show in April 2018. It is claimed that it will be unique to Infiniti and be compatible with battery-electric and so-called e-Power powertrains. The latter means petrol-electric hybrid with a range extender (and therefore no plugging-in), which could in many vehicles be the existing 2.0-litre VCT. The as yet unnamed platform was previewed in the Q Inspiration Concept unveiled at the 2018 Detroit auto show.
The petrol engine and one motor will be placed over the front axle, while AWD will be possible via a second motor at the rear, with a third motor will be added for high performance Infiniti EVs.
The future Infiniti EV will be a crossover, it was announced in December 2018, with a preview of the model – the QX Inspiration concept – taking place a month later at the 2019 Detroit auto show. If the production model is the same size as the concept then it will be a competitor for the Jaguar I-Pace, Audi e-tron, BMW iX3, Mercedes EQC and others.
A further take on Nissan’s plans for a fully electric Infiniti was revealed at the Shanghai motor show in April: the Qs Inspiration concept (see image). According to rumour, the production model will be manufactured in China by the Dongfeng Nissan JV.
Reports for many other manufacturers’ future models are grouped in the OEM product strategy summaries section of just-auto.com.
Future product program intelligence
More detail on past, current and forthcoming models can be found in PLDB, the future vehicles database which is part of QUBE. Details of other existing and future Infiniti models not listed above can also be found there.
The next brand to be featured as part of the Groupe Renault and Nissan Motor future models series will be Nissan. This will be followed by the final report, the focus of which will be Mitsubishi Motors. Other makes in this series have been Alpine and Renault, Dacia, Renault-Samsung, Lada, Datsun and Venucia.
