SPY PICS: Infiniti Q60 Coupe caught

Until Infiniti decides to push the 'go' button on a hard core sports sedan like the Q50 Eau Rouge or an all-new supercar, this slinky new Q60 coupe will be the Japanese luxury brand's hero car.

Set to premiere at the 2016 Detroit motor show in early January, the Q60 Coupe is seen here completely undisguised, revealing a svelte and sporty new look.

The Q60 coupe has been confirmed for sale in Australia by the local importer, arriving late in 2016, when it will compete with vehicles such as the Lexus RC and BMW 4 Series coupes.

Spied outside Las Vegas in the USA, the rear-drive Infiniti Q60 Coupe is understandably the brand's 'image' car, its wedge-shaped silhouette and smoothly flared wheel arches ensuring a strong road presence. The front end features Infiniti's signature grille and slimline headlight design, complete with plenty of chrome trim and diffuse LEDs to communicate the car's luxury and style.

Compared to the Q60 Coupe concept that was first revealed at 2015 Detroit motor show, the production Q60 has many similarities, including the smooth roofline, swoopy rear end design and sporty stance.

Unlike most car makers, Infiniti has a knack of delivering production cars that closely resemble the concepts by which they were inspired, the Q30 another good example.

As previously reported, Infiniti's new 'sex machine' is likely to benefit from a number of high-output engines, and potentially the premiere of an all-new engine range mid-year, expected to comprise turbo six-cylinder units.

Nissan's luxury brand Infiniti has a technical alliance with Daimler going on, which means it has access to a range of platforms, engines and components developed by Mercedes-Benz. The vehicle in the spy photos here has 3.0t badging, so it's likely early models will adopt a Mercedes 3.0-litre twin-turbo powerplant that pumps out 245kW and 480Nm as seen in C-Class vehicles.

We can also expect German-sourced four-cylinder turbo-diesel and turbo-petrol engines to power entry-level Q60 coupes.

But it's the range-topping high-performance engines that will see pulse rates climb, with talk of a V8-powered halo model, potentially making use of a tuned version of the 5.6-litre V8 from the Nissan Patrol-based QX80, potentially churning out 330kW and 580Nm.

That would make it more than a match for the Lexus RC F power monger.

Based on a heavily-modified version of the Nissan 370Z platform, the new Q60 is shaping up to be a proper driver's car, but will also deliver a number of technological advancements, Infiniti has previously insisted.

The current-generation Q60 Coupe starts at around $63,000 in Australia, so it would be reasonable to expect a similar price for the new-generation Q60 when it arrives Down Under in the fourth quarter of 2016.