Infiniti debuts speedster at Pebble Beach

This is the prettiest Infiniti you’ll never see – at least as a production car. Dubbed the Prototype 10, the striking Infiniti concept was previewed in sketch form recently and now has debuted at the 2018 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in real, 3D form.

But don’t expect the Nissan-owned Japanese luxury brand to ever build it. Instead, the electric sports car “hints at striking future design cues” from the brand, along with its “desire to develop electric models that offer driving pleasure, thrilling performance and extended range”.

Infiniti says the Prototype 10 “recaptures the spirit of early speedsters for an era of electrified performance”. It claimed it has “looked back to go forward” with the project, which is the first under the marque’s new Executive Design Director, Karim Habib.

There’s not even a virtual spec sheet for the Prototype 10. No powertrain details are offered, nor performance targets.

Instead, design boss Habib is playing up the change in design and packaging paradigms electrification delivers.

“Electrification provides new opportunities for the design and layout of our cars… We aren’t bound by the same physical restrictions. Prototype 10 shows how an electrified powertrain could fit within a lean, lightweight and daring body, and this enabled us to rethink the fundamental layout of the car,” he said.

Infiniti says it will electrify all of its new model production cars from the 2021. That promise translates to marketing a mix of hybrid, e-POWER and battery EV powertrains.

The company says Prototype 10 hints at the “potential for INFINITI to adopt rigid, modular platforms with flat floors to underpin every one of its new electrified vehicles, and support a new era of design and packaging”.

“Electrification also provides the opportunity to introduce a wider variety of drivetrains, including a new e-AWD system, underpinned by electric motor technology, to help transform perceptions of EV performance and power delivery,” the company stated.

Prototype 10 follows the retro single-seat racer-style concept car the marque displayed at Pebble Beach in 2017.