Infiniti – A Brief History
While Infiniti sales officially started on November 8, 1989 in the U.S., plans for Infiniti took root in 1985 with the creation of a top secret “Horizon Task Force” – a group formed within Nissan with a view toward creating a new performance luxury brand.
With existing U.S. and European luxury brands already well entrenched in the American marketplace at the time, investment costs would be high, along with the risk. Given the opportunity to start with a “blank sheet of paper,” the Horizon Task Force took an expansive view. They looked at luxury vehicles both from a product perspective and the entire purchase and ownership process.
The Horizon Task Force singled out for closer study a handful of leading service companies outside of the automotive field, including Federal Express, Four Seasons Hotels and Nordstrom department stores. Ultimately, the Task Force’s findings had a direct influence on everything from the design of the first Infiniti showrooms, which had the look and feel closer to a luxury hotel than a car dealership, to the brand identity process all the way down to details such as the design of business cards and parts and accessories packaging.
This new customer-centric philosophy – later named the “Infiniti Total Ownership Experience” – would be applied to service policies as well, and included the then-unheard of amenity of offering free service loan cars.
The name chosen in July 1987 for the new performance luxury brand symbolised the desire to be always looking forward – to new horizons. With a fresh spelling and a badge with its two central lines leading off into an infinite point on the horizon, Infiniti – with four “i”s – was born.
From a product perspective, Infiniti launched in the U.S. with two models: the breakthrough Infiniti Q45 performance luxury sedan and the driver-oriented M30 performance luxury coupe.
With those two models, Infiniti gave the automotive world notice that its product philosophy was based on originality, performance, quality and an enthusiasm for driving.
Where Infiniti was most influential in the early years was in the implementation of Total Ownership Experience. In its first decade of operation, Infiniti was an industry leader in customer satisfaction, winning numerous awards, including the highest rank in J.D. Power and Associates’ Customer Service Index (CSI) study three times and consistent top three finishes in the major independent sales and service studies.
Throughout those early years of Infiniti in the U.S. and Canada, the model lineup and dealer body continued to grow at a steady, prescribed pace. The Q45 was joined over the next few years by the Infiniti G20 compact sports sedan, the dramatically styled J30 luxury sedan, the I30 performance sedan and the QX4 luxury SUV. By the end of its first decade, Infiniti was consistently selling around 75,000 units a year.
While Infiniti sales officially started on November 8, 1989 in the U.S., plans for Infiniti took root in 1985 with the creation of a top secret “Horizon Task Force” – a group formed within Nissan with a view toward creating a new performance luxury brand.
With existing U.S. and European luxury brands already well entrenched in the American marketplace at the time, investment costs would be high, along with the risk. Given the opportunity to start with a “blank sheet of paper,” the Horizon Task Force took an expansive view. They looked at luxury vehicles both from a product perspective and the entire purchase and ownership process.
The Horizon Task Force singled out for closer study a handful of leading service companies outside of the automotive field, including Federal Express, Four Seasons Hotels and Nordstrom department stores. Ultimately, the Task Force’s findings had a direct influence on everything from the design of the first Infiniti showrooms, which had the look and feel closer to a luxury hotel than a car dealership, to the brand identity process all the way down to details such as the design of business cards and parts and accessories packaging.
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| 2010 Infiniti EX |
This new customer-centric philosophy – later named the “Infiniti Total Ownership Experience” – would be applied to service policies as well, and included the then-unheard of amenity of offering free service loan cars.
The name chosen in July 1987 for the new performance luxury brand symbolised the desire to be always looking forward – to new horizons. With a fresh spelling and a badge with its two central lines leading off into an infinite point on the horizon, Infiniti – with four “i”s – was born.
From a product perspective, Infiniti launched in the U.S. with two models: the breakthrough Infiniti Q45 performance luxury sedan and the driver-oriented M30 performance luxury coupe.
With those two models, Infiniti gave the automotive world notice that its product philosophy was based on originality, performance, quality and an enthusiasm for driving.
Where Infiniti was most influential in the early years was in the implementation of Total Ownership Experience. In its first decade of operation, Infiniti was an industry leader in customer satisfaction, winning numerous awards, including the highest rank in J.D. Power and Associates’ Customer Service Index (CSI) study three times and consistent top three finishes in the major independent sales and service studies.
Throughout those early years of Infiniti in the U.S. and Canada, the model lineup and dealer body continued to grow at a steady, prescribed pace. The Q45 was joined over the next few years by the Infiniti G20 compact sports sedan, the dramatically styled J30 luxury sedan, the I30 performance sedan and the QX4 luxury SUV. By the end of its first decade, Infiniti was consistently selling around 75,000 units a year.