Infiniti cools on QX80

The dimming prospects for the QX80 SUV becoming a member of the Australian Infiniti line-up means the neophyte luxury brand is facing a product drought in 2015.

The Nissan-owned Infiniti brand this week launched diesel and hybrid versions of the all-new Q50 prestige sedan here and will add a 2.0-litre turbo-petrol version in the last quarter of 2014.

Apart from upgrades for existing models, there is no current prospect of further fresh metal to expand its Australian range until the Q30 compact hatchback arrives sometime in 2016, followed by the QX30 crossover spin-off later the same year or in 2017.

That barren stretch would be bad news for any brand, but will be particularly unhelpful for Infiniti, which launched with the aged FX and M models in Australia in September 2012 and sold only 304 vehicles in 2013.

“We will essentially have 2015 at this point in time as a period when we have no new model launches,” confirmed Infiniti Australia General Manager Campbell Yorke.

“It would always be ideal to have new model launches. We are a product-driven industry and to have new product to put to the market is always a benefit.”

The Y62 Nissan Patrol-based QX80, an example of which has been brought into Australia by Infiniti and homologated, would help fill that blank in the 2015 calendar.

It also would also be a direct competitor for fellow Japanese luxury brand Lexus and its Toyota LandCruiser-based LX570.

Motoring.com.au has previously reported on the likelihood of the petrol V8 QX80 coming to Australia and detailed its specifications.

But Nissan and Infiniti Australia Managing Director Peter Jones made it clear to motoring.com.au this week that he has little enthusiasm for the introduction of the QX80.

“It is still under discussion, but the thing with that is it is such a small segment,” he said.

“Looking at LX570 sales, I think they sold 11 last month (December 2013) and so you look at that and think ‘well, how many of those cars or trucks do you think you are going to sell?’ I think the market is very narrow.

“I have been in the truck in the US and it’s a lovely truck but the area you are going to be fighting in is very, very small. I am not saying it’s not coming because it is still under consideration.”

Jones talked more optimistically of the next generation of all-new Infiniti models led by the Q50 and Q30 that are currently under development, some of which he viewed during a December visit to the Infiniti design studio in Atsugi, Japan.

“The sexy cars that are coming give me great confidence,” he said. “The design studio is a very exciting place when it comes to Infiniti.”

However, he stopped short of confirming specifics, such as the mooted Q90 large sedan and the Q100 coupe said to spin from it, or the much-mooted Infiniti supercar.

“We are thinking about lots of things,” he teased. “I don’t even know if they exist.

“The best thing is when I look at some things in clay they don’t have badges on them. Instead they have beautiful names that aren’t meant to mean anything.”

Meanwhile, Yorke predicted both the Q30, which was shown in concept form at the Paris auto show last September, and the QX30 would provide substantial volume boosts for Infiniti here.

“Does it (Q30) have the potential to become a volume model? For sure. And that would be a function of the consumer behaviour moving further and further into smaller cars,” he said.

The Q30 and QX30 will take on the likes of the Audi A3 and Q3, the BMW 1 Series and X1 and the Mercedes-Benz A-Class and GLA, with which they will share significant elements of the MFA architecture and some engines.

“I think if the trends of SUV take-up rates continue it would not be improbable for the QX30 to be one of our largest sellers,” Yorke added.

“We have seen a substantial and ongoing migration from small hatches and sedans into SUVs. We have seen people move out of large cars in the Australian market… as people move into more SUV-based vehicles.

“That trend will continue for the foreseeable future and QX30 will be ideally based to benefit from that.”

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