Infiniti's surprise sales split

Infiniti's V8-powered FX50 SUV has upset the applecart. The prestige brand had projected that the flagship of the range would account for a significantly smaller component of the interest from customers, but the level of enquiry to date suggests the big banger could be a hit when it reaches showrooms around a month from now.

Kevin Snell, Infiniti's General Manager, told motoring.com.au earlier this week that the public's interest in the FX50 was just one of the noteworthy aspects of the data accumulated by monitoring online enquiry.

"We're five or six weeks away from the first dealership opening — and we've got several thousand prospects, who've registered interest on our database or over our website over the last six months [and] are increasingly asking the questions: 'How much are the cars going to cost, what is the spec going to be, when can I put my name down to test drive one?' and the like."

It's a process any start-up company will conduct during the lead-up to launch.

"Rather than wait for the dealerships to open, we want to start that process, so the dealers... can start to book the test drives; we can identify those people who are really... the hot prospects — once we've announced the price and spec — versus [those who are] 'interested-to-know-a-bit-more'...

Mr Snell claims the company has been pleased with the level of enquiry to date. It bodes well for the successful launch of the brand, particularly given much of the enquiry has been registered prior to the company announcing full pricing and specifications for the launch models, the M Series and the FX SUV.

"We're ahead of what we projected, so we set ourselves expectations or targets around... web traffic, how many people we expect to register interest, how many people we expect to give us further information and actually register for getting full information once it becomes available — and we set targets for that nine or 12 months ago, and we're tracking well ahead of that."

As expected, the FX (pictured) has drawn a lot of potential buyers to the new brand and accounts for more online traffic than the M Series. It's also shaping up to snare some conquest sales from other prestige brands, according to Mr Snell.

"The FX is the most popular [model]... and the majority of people who've registered their interest, more have come from existing luxury brands than not."

But talk of snatching market share from direct competitors is something the Infiniti boss seems careful to avoid. On the subject of the M35h, the fastest accelerating production hybrid in the world — and a car priced at precisely the same level as the Lexus GS 450h, Mr Snell steered well clear of acknowledging the Infiniti has the potential to spoil the pitch for Lexus.

"I wouldn't put it that way... BMW and other makers are launching hybrids as well...

"Hybrid is about showcasing performance and technology for Infiniti, it's not necessarily about conquesting any one brand or product. It's still not a large-volume segment, it's not where our focus is, in terms of conquest or growing volume. That's not the role of the hybrid in our portfolio.

"We don't expect it to be the top-selling model from a volume perspective... we expect it to do a reasonable job for us. We've also got a high-torque, pretty efficient V6 turbodiesel in the M30d, which we think is going to be a pretty popular car. Diesel, within the luxury segment — and in a large sedan — is a much greater opportunity currently. Hybrid's got a small representation and it will grow as more players come in and as more consumers get familiar with the technology. We've got a much greater opportunity with the V6 petrol and diesel in the early days, than hybrid."

Despite the niche appeal of the hybrid model, its sales could amount to as much as 20 per cent of total M Series volume, Mr Snell suggests, with the balance evenly split between the petrol and diesel V6 models.

"The V6 petrol and diesel we expect to be 50/50 between the two of those — a pretty equal mix. We know the diesel is a really popular powertrain in the segment, but we also think we've got a pretty unique proposition with the M37, in terms of... what that car delivers for the price point... We think that will be quite a popular car as well. The hybrid could be somewhere between 10 and 20 per cent of the overall mix..."

When asked about the background of the prospects to date and how it was that they were aware of the brand's existence, Mr Snell indicated that many associated the company name with F1 and the Red Bull team that has dominated the sport in recent years.

"The most aware — there are a few different backgrounds they come from. The Formula One relationship, over the last 18 months with Red Bull, has brought luxury owners who follow Formula One. They're sort of the first ones becoming aware of the brand by that partnership. It's been really successful in Europe and it's having an effect here as well. It also helps with Mark [Webber] doing so well; more and more people following Formula One are being exposed to our brand...

"The other one is we're seeing [brand awareness] from ex-pats or people who have lived or worked abroad: people who have been exposed to the US, people who have lived, worked or travelled in China or — to a lesser extent — Europe in recent years as the brand's been growing fast [but] particularly in China.

"A lot of the early prospects we've got are people who are asking to test-drive a car or [asking] for the pricing, so that they can pretty much make their order are people who have lived or worked in the US or are US ex-pats as well. There's a strong demand there. So we're seeing it both from people who travel, as well as people who follow Formula One..."

Given that many of these prospects are people who wouldn't seem to be a natural fit with diesel-powered vehicles (or hybrids either, for that matter), how sure is Infiniti that diesel can account for up to 40 per cent of sales, or more, given the background of the prospective buyers so far?

"It's a good point," Mr Snell responds. "What we've seen, if you look at luxury SUVs for example, the segment's probably 75 per cent diesel... We don't expect our diesel mix to be as rich, for a couple of reasons...

"We do expect the early buyers to be more performance-oriented; early adopters who are more focused on the driving character of the car. Unlike some of our competitors, we'll have a really attractive, V6, performance-oriented petrol offering in the FX37 and the M37. And we'll also have a V8... We do believe we'll get a richer mix in the V6 petrol and the V8 petrol than some of the competitors, which naturally means probably less diesel.

"But as we project over three, four or five-year lifecycles of cars, we see the diesel mix increasing as we reach a broader market. On average, over the lifecycle, I think we'll see 50/50, but we do expect a skew; we're already seeing in the interest early on, with FX, a skew to FX50s, to the V8... [It's] far beyond the average in the segment. There's a strong demand in the early prospects for FX50s..."

"If you look at the segment [for] large SUVs, it's probably gone from five or 10 years ago from being 20 per cent to... probably not much more than five per cent.

"Early indications are that for the first 12 months or so [FX50] could be as much as 25 per cent or more of our mix. There's been really strong interest and demand on it from the early adopters. Probably over the lifecycle though, it's more likely to be 10 or 15 [per cent]. But it is a really iconic car, the FX. It's a real driver's performance-oriented car, both in design and the actual driving experience. Certainly [from] the first hand-raisers for the FX we're seeing a pretty high mix of FX50 or V8 people. And then we see the balance being pretty evenly spread between the 37 V6 petrol and the 30d, the V6 diesel.

"Segment-wise that would have us skewed more heavily to the petrol variants — and that's because they're such strong, performance-oriented engines... Over time... we expect the diesel mix to increase."

When Infiniti opens its showroom doors late in August, it will adopt a multi-faceted approach to bait the buyers (promotion of the brand through a year-long association with Cirque du Soleil's National 'Ovo' tour, for instance), and keep them — with an extended roadside assistance service that will help Infiniti owners back on the road, even if they're in a different brand of car.

"[If] an Infiniti owner is driving a non-Infiniti car and something goes wrong, and they need roadside assistance, they can call Infiniti and Infiniti Roadside Assistance will come and take care of it," Mr Snell explains. "We cover the driver as well as the car. Let's say their partner — their husband, their wife — have another car, which has an issue. They need support, they can call Infiniti Roadside Assistance, as an Infiniti owner, and we will come to their assistance."
 
It's a small but important component of the Infiniti offer — and it's something that Lexus doesn't deliver.

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