Infiniti confirms new engine family

Nissan's luxury brand, Infiniti, will unleash a new engine family in mid-2016 that is expected to replace the Nissan-sourced VQ V6s currently displacing 3.5 and 3.7 litres in its vehicles.

Although the company has not officially confirmed whether the new engines will be six-cylinder units, it's understood that hybrid versions will form part of the new engine range.

Matthew Davis, Infiniti global director of product and brand communications, told motoring.com.au the new powertrains would be revealed as "a set" all at the one time.

He refused to confirm or deny whether the new engines would be six-cylinder units but acknowledged that "the first manifestations of this new engine family will be coming somewhere in the middle of 2016".

"As far as where that particular engine family is allowed to go, expanding and what not, we can't say yet," he admitted.

The new engines will likely replace the ageing V6 engines in the Q50 and Q70 sedans, and may debut in the next-generation Q60 coupe, which will premiere in production guise at the 2016 Detroit motor show in January.

The new engine family will deliver more power while using less fuel than the current VQ V6 engines and will probably employ turbocharging and downsizing strategies to do so.

It marks the first time Infiniti has developed its own engines, having shared powerplants with Nissan, Renault and Mercedes-Benz.

The company may still be relatively small compared to its European rivals such as Audi and BMW but with sales continuing to expand globally — up by 16 per cent to 154,600 thus far in 2015 — it's now been given some freedom from parent company Nissan to develop its own engines.

Australian sales of Infiniti are tiny, with just 455 units sold in 2015 so far, but that's up by 26 per cent year on year, with only three dealers in play. More dealers will be opened in 2016.

Davis said that while the challenges were still numerous for the Japanese luxury brand, the mood within company was buoyant.

"We don’t want to go around saying we're the challenger, the underdog, we're the disruptor… They're just catchwords. There's a lot of work to do but we are relishing the challenge."

He also intimated the new engine family won't include a V8 unit.

Instead, the current VK range which goes up to 5.6 litres in capacity in the QX80 SUV, will continue to be developed and could be offered in a high-performance version of the Q60 coupe.

Asked if the V8 engines would be killed off, he responded: "We have one V8 [family]. As long as we have one, we will probably be playing with the good material we've got and maximising it."