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Infiniti details expansion plan, takes teaser campaigns to new heights

Infiniti will apparently grow its line-up to include at least 13 models — eight sedans/coupes and five SUVs — within the next five years as it continues to grow its global footprint. 


The expansion, which represents growth of 60 per cent over its current eight-member global range, will see the company follow through with the plan partially laid down by recently-departed CEO Johan de Nysschen, who left last month to become president of Cadillac

Speaking with US publication Autoblog, Infiniti Americas vice president Michael Bartsch — formerly of Porsche Australia, interestingly — let slip the number of models to be offered.

At present, the company offers the Q50 and Q70 sedans, Q60 coupe and Q60 convertible, and the QX50, QX60 and QX70 SUVs. Its struggling Australian arm offers all of these bar the US-market G Series entry sedan and the QX60 seven-seater. 

These will be joined by the Mercedes-Benz A-Class-based Q30 hatch in 2015 and the QX30 crossover derivative in 2016, while the Chinese market will get its own spinoff of the Nissan Juke called the ESQ in the near future. 

Bartsch also told CarAdvice earlier this year about plans to spinoff a halo car, as previewed by the Essence and Emerg-e concepts and due around 2018, as well as a flagship 2017 luxury sedan rival to the Porsche Panamera and Mercedes-Benz S-Class

The company also plans to have performance versions of all its model lines, made by an in-house division a la Mercedes-Benz AMG, BMW M or Audi RS. 

In other news, the latest step in Infiniti’s bold expansion plans will be previewed by a concept car at the Paris motor show on October 2. 

The company this week took the polarising notion of teaser campaigns to new heights with the release of a single tightly-cropped image (pictured at the top of the story) of a new grille belonging to a vehicle with “style and substance” that apparently “push any preconceived limits”. 

The mysterious grille, which appears to have a similar form to the road-going Q50 but with wave-like inserts, belongs to what Infiniti interestingly calls “a vision – its soul – on a scale not seen before from the company”. 

The enigmatic release finishes with the French phrase “À bientôt” — “see you soon” in the Queen’s — which we take to mean a world premiere of this mystery vehicle at the Paris motor show next month. 

The fact that Infiniti claims this vehicle will preview something of unparalleled style and substance for the brand points to it being a prototype of the aforementioned flagship 2017 luxury sedan or the halo sportscar. We await the answer with baited breath. 

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