Infiniti, Japanese automaker Nissan’s luxury arm, launched the all-new Q50 sedan during a gala event held at Infiniti’s Sheikh Zayed road showroom in Dubai. The event also marked the launch of the Infiniti Performance Engineering Academy in Dubai, and featured some prominent personalities from the F1 arena, including F1 race driver, Mark Webber.
Infiniti teased us with some sketches earlier. Then just before the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show , the luxury brand revealed the first image of the ‘Q30 concept’ to get everyone buzzing before finally revealing it in the flesh.
The 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show is under way in Germany, with a number of new product launches, otherworldly concepts and near-production concepts. Some of the new models launched include the Nissan X-Trail, the Volkswagen Golf R and the Bentley Continental GT V8 S. Some of the near-production concepts, which hint at the future direction of these brands, include the sleek Infiniti Q30, the staid Mercedes-Benz S-Class Coupe, the unlikely Volvo Coupe and the unfortunate BMW Active Tourer. Here’s a selection of photos right from the show floor.
Just when we thought the Frankfurt Motor Show wouldn’t get any more cramped, Infiniti has added one more car to the list of unveilings. The company says that the Q30 Concept will make its global debut in Frankfurt next month.
It’s got a thorough replacement in the form of the Q50 sedan, but Infiniti is banking on the G37 and has announced that it will continue in some markets, even as the former is due to go on sale soon.
As we reported earlier, Infiniti is changing all their model names so that they start with Q for cars and QX for SUVs. Long-running nameplates such as the G37 will disappear to make way for the Q50; and freshly-minted nameplates such as the JX35 will disappear just as quickly as they appeared, becoming QX60 in the process. We are told the GCC will be the first region in the world to receive these renamed model. The first of these will be the FX models, which will henceforth be known as the QX70 as soon as the 2014 model is launched.
It’s been a busy couple of weeks in Dubai, as several automotive-related companies held all sorts of events, none of which involved any new car launches.
In a move that was a long time coming, the FX35 and its 3.5-litre V6 have finally been dropped from the line-up, replaced by the new FX37 model.
Infiniti recently invited us to try out the 2013 QX56 at a media event. We were more than familiar with the QX56’s capabilities on the road, thanks to the long-termer we had in 2011. We didn’t explore its off-roading credentials at the time beyond mountain-driving, but since it is a reskinned Nissan Patrol after all, Infiniti wanted us to do more with it this time around.
In what has to be the most convoluted move in attempting to create a brand identity, Infiniti has decided to rename all their models to have their names start with the letter Q, dropping the G, M, FX, EX, QX and even the new JX, names that they’ve worked all these years to build up. So much for brand equity.