Infiniti unveils compact SUV

Basking in the global sales success of its stylish FX crossover, Nissan's premium Infiniti offshoot is gearing up to launch a baby brother to the stylish SUV.

To be badged EX35 when it goes on sale internationally at the end of this year, the new 'coupe crossover' was recently revealed at the 2007 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.

What's the relevance for us? Well, Nissan Australia execs have been making noises for some time about reintroducing the upmarket Infiniti brand locally and, if this does indeed come to pass, the EX35 seems a logical contender for our SUV-hungry market.

"Infiniti is something we are going to look at this year," Nissan Australia marketing boss Ross Booth was quoted as saying recently. "We are having a serious look at whether we can bring it back."

Mr Booth suggested Infiniti could be positioned as a standalone brand, in the same way that Toyota has done with Lexus. However, he suggested that -- even if Infiniti is re-launched here -- it wouldn't happen next year, or even in 2009.

Getting back to the EX35, Infiniti claims it offers an elegant interior and a host of advanced technology systems. These include the world production car debut of the advanced Around View Monitor (AVM) system, which utilises four small cameras to give the driver a "top-down view" of the outside of the vehicle while parking.

The EX also features the new Lane Departure Prevention (LDP) system, and 'Scratch Shield', a special "self-healing" clearcoat paint that supposedly repairs fine scratches, such as fingernail scratches under door handles, all on its own.

The "healing" process, which takes anywhere from one day to one week (depending on the surrounding temperature and the depth of the scratch), is accomplished through the use of a special highly elastic resin. This resin is combined with a conventional clearcoat to increase the paint's flexibility and strength by raising the resin density.

Visually, the EX35 has many familiar Infiniti cues, including a double-arch grille, large L-shaped headlights with available Bi-Xenon Adaptive Front lighting System (AFS), integrated fog lights, distinctive LED taillights and "dynamic arch" profile

Under the EX35's skin lurks the same FR-L platform that underpins the M, FX and G coupe and sedan ranges. Power comes from a 3.5-litre V6 engine (shared with the new G35 sedan), rated at 210-plus kilowatts (estimated) and five-speed automatic transmission with manual mode, DS sport mode with Downshift Rev Matching (DRM), and Adaptive Shift Control.

Standard active safety features include a Vehicle Dynamic Control (VDC) with Traction Control System (TCS), while an advanced Intelligent Cruise Control (ICC) with Preview Braking is optionally available.

The EX35 also features Infiniti's ATTESA E-TS (Advanced Total Traction Engineering System for All Electronic Torque Split) all-wheel-drive system, which is claimed to offer better traction and maneuverability on snowy and wet roads than conventional all-wheel-drive systems.

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