Infiniti lands Q60 Red Sport

Infiniti Cars Australia has crowned its new Q60 Coupe range with a new twin-turbo V6-powered 'Red Sport' hero variant.

The new Q60 Red Sport joins the 2.0-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder Q60 GT and Q60 Sport Premium coupes launched here in November to create a three-model sports car range for the Japanese premium brand.

It's priced at $88,900 plus on-road costs, making it $26,000 pricier than the cheapest Q60 and a direct competitor for the premium versions of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, BMW 4 Series, Audi A5 and Lexus RC coupes.

However, Infiniti is yet to produce a direct rival for the Mercedes-AMG C 63, BMW M4, Audi S5 and Lexus RC F coupes priced above $100,000, although it did hint at a high-performance Q60 with the Project Black S at the Geneva motor show earlier this year.

Infiniti is yet to confirm production of the Project Black, but has said it shows "where we could take Q60 in future years".

“It indicates the scope of how far this car could go," said Infiniti Cars Australia's General Manager of Product Communications, Peter Fadeyev. "We have a very good history of turning concepts that look pretty cool into production cars. I’ll let you speculate there."

For now, Infiniti Cars Australia Product Planning Manager Bernard Michel says the Q60 Red Sport combines “daring design with performance to match”.

Nissan's luxury brand says the new Q60 – which is wider, lower and longer than the previous generation -- is a unique player in a mostly conservative field.

However, it’s the new 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 that is undoubtedly the headline act. Delivering 298kW of power at 6400rpm and 475Nm of torque over 1600-5200rpm, it's matched to exclusively to a seven-speed automatic transmission.

Australia will only have access to the rear-wheel drive version, but all-wheel drive is available overseas, and both the Q60 Sport Premium and Red Sport feature Infiniti’s oft-maligned steer-by-wire Direct Adaptive Steering, now in version 2.0.

In Red Sport spec it works in tandem with Infiniti’s Dynamic Digital Suspension, both of which can be tailored to the driver’s personal preferences.

A Nappa leather interior, adaptive cruise control and 13-speaker BOSE audio system adds appropriate pomp while forward and reversing collision avoidance, blind spot monitoring and lane departure warning and intervention systems strengthen a solid safety array.

Positioning the Q60 as more of a grand-tourer than high-performance coupe, there are currently there are no official acceleration times to speak of. Infiniti did, however, say that that 0-100km/h times of 4.9 to five seconds have been recorded in other markets.

Addressing media at the Australian launch of the Q60 Red Sport, Nissan Australia Managing Director and CEO Richard Emery did not provide sales forecasts but said Infiniti's new top-shelf coupe was important for the fledgling brand's profile.

“Even though it’s not a large-volume car, it’s a really important step in maturing the brand in Australia," he said.

Infiniti sees its target market for the Q60 Red Sport as predominantly males aged between 45 and 55.

Michel reiterated the importance of the Q60’s eye-catching design as a flag-bearer for Infiniti, which is still in its infancy in the Australian market.

“It’s a halo car for us. It will showcase our performance DNA as well as showcasing our daring design. It’s very much a part of the Infiniti design mantra… our cars being noticed on the road.”

Despite a strong start to 2017 for Infiniti Cars Australia (year-to-date sales are up 49 per cent on this time last year), a total of just 807 sales Down Under in 2016 is proof that Infiniti has much ground to cover.

Infiniti Cars Australia Managing Director Chang Hwan Lee said the brand's local retail outlet expansion continues as part of its quest to get Aussie bums on seats.

“We are expanding our dealer network very aggressively," he said, confirming that the number of Infiniti retail and service centres will increase by three in 2017 to total 11 Australia-wide.