2016 Infiniti Q30 spied for the first time

The images confirm Infiniti’s long awaited and highly anticipated small car will closely resemble the Q30 concept that debuted at last year’s Frankfurt motor show.

Despite every panel being covered in bulky black plastic cladding, the Infiniti Q30 is easily identifiable by its diamond-thatched grille, piercing headlights, heavily raked tailgate glass and thin LED tail-lights.

As expected, the production model will get conventional external door grabs – unlike the concept’s flush handles – and larger side mirrors, and also appears to feature unique front and rear bumpers with larger overhangs.

The Infiniti Q30 is based on Daimler’s front-/all-wheel-drive ‘MFA’ platform that underpins the Mercedes-Benz A-Class, B-Class, CLA-Class and GLA-Class compact models.

It is also expected to inherit a number of the German car maker’s turbocharged four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines.

Former Infiniti president Johan de Nysschen told Autocar earlier this year that the Nissan-owned Japanese luxury brand would “set the specifications and parameters” for the Q30 and “Mercedes will engineer the car”.

He admitted that “Infiniti [needed] a new model in Europe fast”, with the decision to effectively outsource the car’s engineering to cut its development time in half.

The Infiniti Q30 will be produced in a new facility at Nissan’s assembly plant in Sunderland, UK, in late 2015.

Former Infiniti Australia general manager Campbell York told CarAdvice in earlier this year that both the Q30 and its crossover sibling, the QX30, would be available in our market by 2017, with the hatch tipped to arrive in 2016.

As with the A-Class and its key rivals, the Audi A3 and BMW 1 Series, the Infiniti Q30 is expected to be priced from about $35,000 before on-road costs when it reaches Australia.

Click the Photos tab for more Infiniti Q30 images.