Former CEO Johan de Nysschen may have left the building but his dream of returning Infiniti to its hedonistic past would appear to be living beyond his short reign as head of Nissan’s struggling luxury division (the mercurial German has headed Audi of America, Infiniti and now Cadillac all in the span of less than 30 months).
The Paris auto show was wowed by a return to the days of awe-inspiring Infinitis — some of us are old enough to have been impressed by the first-gen Q45 — with the Q80 Inspiration concept, a four-door coupe that might just out-fastback Mercedes-Benz’s CLS and even Audi’s RS7.
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It’s also bigger than both — in truth, at 5,052 millimetres from stem-to-stern, it’s more of an S Class competitor — and rides on probably-won’t-make-it-to-production 22-inch “dubs”. But, with a height of just 1,350 mm, it renders a sleeker silhouette than any of its land yacht competitors.
Infiniti Q80 Inspiration Concept
Handout, Infiniti
If Infiniti does prove brave enough to produce it, we can expect the Q80 to be substantially fleeter of foot as well. Powering the prototype is a twice turbocharged, 3.0-litre revision of Infiniti’s evergreen V6 further aggrandized by hybrid electric motors which, Infiniti claims, lets the Q80 simultaneously boast 550 tire-shredding horsepower and penny-pinching 5.5 L/100 km fuel economy.
Seeing how it’s to be the “inspiration” for Infiniti’s new flagship, there’s of course more to the Q80 than mere turbochargers and electric supercharging. Cameras and sensors abound, making this the most autonomous Infiniti yet, though, as Francois Bancon, Infiniti’s vice-president of product strategy, emphatically states, the company’s take on self-driving cars is very much driver-centric.
“Infiniti considers that autonomous driving is an integral part of a premium car of tomorrow,” Bancon says. “In our case, we have taken the approach that autonomous driving should empower and enhance the driving experience, not do the driving.”
Infiniti Q80 Inspiration Concept
Handout, Infiniti
The same approach applies to Infiniti’s new Head-up Display (HUD). “Q80 Inspiration displays minimal information, but it displays the right information,” says Bancon. “There’s no need to baffle drivers with complex details they don’t need and interfaces they don’t know what to do with.”
Passengers, however, may benefit from further mobility convergence, there being TVs and DVDs in the back seats that allow passengers to play games, surf the Internet or email/text message through smartphone connectivity.
The big question, of course, is whether we’ll actually see such a phantasmagorical super sedan in an Infiniti showroom. Here, again, Bancon takes a direct — for an automobile marketing type — position. “Q80 Inspiration is a concept vehicle, but there is a production intent associated with it,” says the former Renault general manager. “The naming of the car indicates that something like the Q80 Inspiration will be in our portfolio of the future. This vehicle will inspire all of our future products.”
Infiniti Q80 Inspiration Concept
Handout, Infiniti
