Infiniti supercar looming larger

The clearest signals yet have emerged from Nissan’s luxury brand Infiniti that it intends to top its range with a flagship performance car potentially based on its Essence coupe concept.

Global CEO Johan de Nysschen promised a clutch of high-end sports models was on the way during his presentation at the Frankfurt motor show after unveiling the Q30 crossover concept.

“In addition to replacing every one of our current models and adding new body styles and powertrain variants throughout our line-up, we will also be expanding the top end of our portfolio with high-performance, highly emotional and very aspirational products,” de Nysschen promised.

“Over the next five years we will increase our portfolio with new sports sedans, new coupes and new crossovers,” he added. “We will attack all the relevant premium market segments, we will more than double the number of powertrains.”

De Nysschen’s outline on the stand followed pre-show media interviews in which he was quoted by Auto Express saying "an Infiniti halo car is important for our future. It should have a strong emotional character and is likely to be a powerful and exciting coupe”.

He then added: "I would like to see commercialisation of the Essence concept towards the back end of the decade."

The Essence debuted at Geneva in 2009 and was powered by a 323kW twin-turbo V6 petrol engine hitched to a 117kW electric hybrid system.

De Nysschen also said a production version of the smaller Emerg-e sports concept to rival the Porsche Cayman was not likely because it was a declining segment.

The plug-in hybrid range-extender Emerg-e first appeared at Geneva in 2012.

Autocar magazine has reported that widespread automotive industry rumour points to a hybrid-powered supercar with technical input from Infiniti-sponsored Formula One team Red Bull Racing, although Infiniti maintains that the layout of the supercar -- whether it has a front- or mid-engined powertrain -- still has to be decided.

A new AMG-rivalling Infiniti performance division is also thought to be part of the development of the brand’s new high-end sports strategy.

No doubt RBR star Sebastian Vettel, would be involved in the development of an Infiniti supercar as he is officially the brand’s ‘performance director’.

At Frankfurt de Nysschen brought the three-times world champions out on stage and interviewed him about his involvement in the development of the mid-size Q50 sedan, which goes on sale in Australia in December.

“It’s a nice process to be involved in and nice to feel the progress when you drive the car,” Vettel said.

De Nysschen also revealed Vettel would have his first drive of a Q30 prototype at the Tochigi test track in Japan prior to the Japanese grand prix.

A supercar would be part of a plan to expand Infiniti’s nine-model range by 60 per cent to 14 models by 2020, with a sales projection of up to 500,000 cars per year – less than half what the likes of BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi sell annually.

‘We have no ambition to expand Infiniti to one million or 1.5 million cars per year, but we will have a very healthy business when we approach 400,000 to 500,000,” de Nysschen told Autocar.

Before the Q50 arrives Down Under, Infiniti Australia will relaunch the FX SUV as the QX70 and the G37 Coupe and Convertible as the Q60 in October, followed by the Q70-based large M sedan in November. The Nissan Patrol-based QX80 will follow in the second half of 2014, followed by the Q30 in 2015.

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