Infiniti prices Q30 for competitiveness
Is it a car or an SUV? Nissan's luxury brand is hedging its bets with pricing in betweenPricing announced today for Infiniti’s new Q30 reflects the aspiring Japanese luxury brand’s positioning of the compact hatchback as a crossover that can be shopped against both passenger vehicles and SUVs from its logical German rivals.
The three-grade Q30 line-up starts at $38,900 (before on-road costs) and finishes at $54,900, which means its pricing starts higher than the Audi A3, BMW 1 Series and Mercedes-Benz A-Class hatches and finishes lower than the Audi Q3, BMW X1 and Mercedes-Benz GLA SUVs.
Nevertheless, it is a higher starting price than tipped by automotive media before launch, when pricing as low as sub-$30,000 was being mooted.
“It is very much an Infiniti philosophy to offer a lot of value in the car in terms of equipment,” Infiniti Cars Australia managing director Jean-Philippe Roux told motoring,com.au. “It’s not about the price, it’s about the equipment.”
The Q30 is intentionally designed to sit across both passenger car and SUV segments, offering the raised ride height that appeals to SUV buyers while retaining on-road features such as front-wheel drive.
Next month the all-wheel drive QX30 'SUV' will be added to the range, offering a more off-road perspective, although it will come with only one engine choice and is likely to have a higher price.
Nissan’s luxury brand is relying on the Q30 to push its slow-starting Australian expedition to a higher level in terms of both recognition and sales. The latter follows the former, which has proved hard to achieve in the four years since its launch with a group of aged models.
“The Q30 is absolutely critical for our plans for growth both globally and locally,” said Roux. “It is the first new product in a full suite of fresh products that are coming to market and the first attempt by the brand to enter the compact vehicle segment.”
The Q30 has gained some attention prior to local launch because it rolls on Daimler’s MFA small-car architecture, making it a close relation of the A-Class and GLA Benzes. All three powertrains variants and the sole transmission choice, a seven-speed dual clutch transmission, are sourced from Benz.
“The elephant in the room,” said Infiniti communications chief Peter Fadeyev, acknowledging the Benz link. “Renault-Nissan has a strategic co-operation with Daimler (parent of Mercedes-Benz) and this car is one of 12 projects globally that are underway.”
Infiniti refused to say what percentage of the Q30 is unique, but does says it’s differentiated in four key areas: exterior design, interior design, chassis tuning, and equipment and pricing.
The Q30, along with the QX30, is the first Infiniti model to be built outside Japan, coming from the Nissan plant at Sunderland in the UK.
The three grades of Q30 offered in Australia are the GT, Sports and Sports Premium. All are based on the same heavily creased and flowing five-door body shape and have a five-seat interior.
The GT is available only with a 1.6-litre 115kW/250Nm turbo-petrol engine and rides on a longer travel comfort suspension and less aggressive 18-inch tyre.
The other two are available with the choice of 155kW/350Nm 2.0-litre turbo-petrol or, for $2000 more, a 125kW/350Nm 2.1-litre (officially and misleadingly referred to as a 2.2) turbo-diesel engine.
They ride on a sports-tuned suspension lowered by 15mm with seven per cent stiffer springs and lower-profile 19-inch run-flat tyres. They also get a more powerful Brembo brake package.
Fuel economy claims vary from as low as 5.2L/100km for the diesel to 6.3L/100km for the 2.0-litre turbo-petrol via 6.0L/100km for the 1.6.
The 2.0-litre Sports model, which is priced at $44,900, is expected to be the most popular model in the range, although ICA isn’t discussing sales specifics, except to acknowledge Q30 will be its biggest seller.
Key Q30 specifications include a five-star ANCAP rating, seven airbags (including a driver’s knee airbag), autonomous emergency braking, navigation, Bluetooth and voice recognition.
No model gets a spare tyre, which will upset the oldies, while neither Apple CarPlay or Android Auto are offered either, and that will disappoint the young-uns.
There is a steep equipment walk up through the grades, most notably in terms of high-tech driver assist equipment.
Only the Sports Premium has radar cruise with braking, blind spot warning, intelligent park assist, front parking sensors and a reversing camera – which comes in the form of an around-view monitor. Neither the GT or Sports gets a reversing camera, an issue ICA acknowledges and says it intends to address when it becomes available.
The GT also misses out on lane departure warning, traffic sign recognition, LED headlights with cornering function, the Sports exterior trim package, pedals and D-shaped steering wheel, and makes do with a part-powered ‘comfort’ front seat and cloth trim. The Sport upgrades to alcantara/leatherette seat fascia and the Sports Premium to Nappa leather.
The Sports Premium is also the only model to get a fixed glass roof, dual-zone climate-control, memory for seating and external mirrors, a fold-down rear armrest with cup-holders and aluminium kicking plates. A 10-speaker Bose audio system is standard on Premium model and a $1000 option on Sports models. Both Sports levels get heated single-piece bucket seats up-front, but they are only fully powered in the Sports Premium.
The diesel Sports Premium is the only model in the range with Active Noise Control, which emits sound waves throughout the four door speakers in order to counteract noises that may distract and fatigue driver, such as low-frequency booming from the engine. Both petrol and diesel Sports Premium models have Active Sound Control, which monitors the throttle pedal position, engine speed and total speed, and works to smooth out any variations in engine tone to project a “pleasing” sound under acceleration.
Under the Infiniti Assure program the Q30 comes with 12-month/25,000km scheduled servicing (including the diesel engine), a four-year/100,000km new car warranty and premium roadside assistance.
Average service costs each year according to Infiniti are $551 for the 1.6, $540 for the 2.0 and $612 for the diesel.
2016 Infiniti Q30 pricing (plus ORCs/drive-away):
1.6t GT — $38,900/$42,875
2.0t Sports — $44,900/$49,055
2.2d Sports — $46,900/$52,145
2.0t Sports Premium — $52,900/$57,295
2.2d Sports Premium — $54,900/$59,335
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