Infiniti QX55 teased again
Infiniti will soon have a new 'Bionic Cheetah' on the prowl as it teases a new coupe crossover: the QX55.
Infiniti invented the coupe crossover with the muscular FX/QX70, which it nicknamed the “Bionic Cheetah”. It’s been discontinued from overseas markets and will soon be withdrawn from Australia, but Infiniti has a new coupe crossover coming to fill the void, the QX55.
The BMW X3-sized QX50 upon which the QX55 is based is a handsome, contemporary SUV but it lacks the visual dynamism of the outgoing QX70.
The QX55, therefore, takes the QX50’s bones and adds more exuberant styling. It'll reach North American showrooms from mid-2020.
The roofline is steeply raked aft of the C-pillar and there’s the subtlest hint of a notchback in the car’s silhouette. Overall, the QX55 is rather more reminiscent of a high-riding hatchback than a lifted sedan or wagon. In that respect, it’s more akin to an Audi Q8 than a Mercedes-Benz GLC Coupe.
You’ll notice, too, that the C-pillar treatment much more closely resembles the old QX70 than any newer Infiniti passenger cars or SUVs, almost all of which feature Infiniti’s unique “crescent-cut” C-pillar treatment.
The QX55 will be one of the last Infinitis designed by outgoing Infiniti design chief Karim Habib, who left the company earlier this year.
Overall, the QX55 does a pretty convincing impression of the QX70. Though that SUV’s current iteration was launched in some markets just over a decade ago, its styling has aged well and is arguably more harmonious than some subsequent coupe crossovers.
Above: Infinti QX70.
Where the QX55 differs markedly from the old QX70 is in its drivetrain. As it’s based on the QX50, it uses a front- and all-wheel-drive platform, not a rear- and all-wheel-drive one.
There’s no raspy V6 or grunty V8 either, as the QX55 will almost certainly retain the QX50’s 2.0-litre variable-compression turbocharged four mated to a continuously variable transmission.
In the QX50, the trick 2.0-litre produces 200kW and 390Nm.
The new naming convention echoes BMW’s delineation of sedans/wagons and their coupe siblings, though it’s unclear whether Infiniti will follow this convention with future passenger cars – by this new logic, the Q60 coupe should be a Q55.
Australia
No QX55 for us. No QX50 either. Infiniti has (almost) left the building, the company announcing earlier this year that it’ll stop selling cars in Australia by late 2020.
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