• Infiniti showed brand dealers four future models it plans to market by 2027.
In recent years, activity under the Infiniti banner has been pretty quiet, all told. To say the least. We've had a new generation of the QX60, as well as the new QX55, a “coupe” version of the QX50. Otherwise, it's been pretty quiet.
The current Q50 sedan, meanwhile, has been on the market nearly unchanged since 2014, which is an eternity.
Some dealers are beginning to worry about the brand's future. That may have been an incentive for Infiniti’s recent meeting with 200 of its American dealers. You could say the aim was to calm things down, and raise spirits up. For the occasion, the company previewed four upcoming models for the brand, two of which are all-electric. Three are SUVs or crossovers, and one is a sedan.
A new Infiniti QX80 for 2024
First off, a revised edition of the brand’s biggest SUV is expected for 2024. The automaker plans to make the next QX80 an even more luxurious product, with a base price just under $100,000 US for the basic version, and above that mark for the more upscale variants. The current version starts at around $82,000 in Canada.
The idea is to compete directly with Cadillac and Lincoln with the Escalade and Navigator. The big change, apart from styling, is that the 5.6-liter V8 will finally be replaced by a turbocharged V6 offering 450 horsepower, 50 more than the current V8.
A 24-inch screen on the dashboard is one of the features that would enable direct competition with a product like the Cadillac Escalade. The model could launch as early as this summer.
An Infiniti QX65
Next, a “new” model named QX65 is being conceived as a rival to the Lexus RX. Based on the QX60, it will offer only two rows of seats and coupe styling, a trend seen elsewhere among competitors.
Infiniti EVs
Then there are the two electric models that were previewed. It's about time Infiniti got moving on this front, especially as the brand was one of the first to announce new products for the early 2020s. At the time, it was ahead of rivals such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Today, it's lagging behind.
First, the Q70 electric sedan is expected to go on sale by the end of 2026. This means we'll have to wait another three years before Infiniti sells its first all-electric model. The choice of a sedan is puzzling, too, since SUVs are what sell, as we all know. Some who attended the meeting compared its styling to that of the Porsche Taycan and Tesla’s Model S.
In 2027, a mid-size SUV will be introduced. Few details were given about this vehicle.
According to Automotive News, the dealers present had mixed reactions. Some doubted that the whole thing was clear enough and that things would happen quickly enough, while others seemed convinced that the whole thing would enable the brand to experience a relaunch.
The next few years will tell us if the brand is on the right track. We can only hope that Infiniti survives, because at the end of the day, we're talking about thousands of jobs.