Infiniti Q70 price cut $7500 due to poor sales; GT petrol now $68,900

The Japanese luxury brand quietly cut $7500 from all five variants in its large sedan range at the start of this month, reducing the entry-level Infiniti Q70 GT petrol to $68,900 and the range-topping GT Premium hybrid to $82,900. The base Q70 now easily undercuts its key rivals, including the Lexus GS250 ($76,530), Audi A6 2.0T ($77,900), BMW 520i and Mercedes-Benz E200 (both $80,400).

In a statement, Infiniti Australia confirmed the new prices are “reflective of the local transaction prices for this model” and have been “implemented simply to encourage greater sales of the Q70 model range”.

Infiniti has sold just 19 of its large luxury sedans this year – four under its previous M name and 15 wearing the new Q70 badge that was adopted at the beginning of 2014. Just two were sold in the third quarter of this year, with none leaving dealerships in August.

The model is tracking far worse than last year, when the Infiniti M limped to sixth place on CarAdvice’s worst selling cars list with just 42 sold across the country.

The Mercedes-Benz E-Class is the top seller in the large luxury sedan segment, with 1192 sales so far this year. It leads the BMW 5 Series (676), Jaguar XF (646), Audi A6 (477), Mercedes-Benz CLS (311) and the Lexus GS (202), while the Q70 languishes with the likes of the Volvo S80 (14) and the discontinued Honda Legend (5).

The price cut comes 13 months after Infiniti Australia originally took the axe to prices of the large sedan in September 2013, slashing between $9500 and $11,500 across the range.

The latest price cut means the Q70 S Premium petrol and diesel variants are now $19,000 cheaper than they were at launch, while the GT petrol and diesel and GT Premium hybrid are $17,000 cheaper.

2015 Infiniti Q70 pricing:
GT petrol $68,900
GT diesel $70,900
S Premium petrol $78,900
S Premium diesel $80,900
GT Premium hybrid $82,900