Infiniti Q60 Coupe a 'sex machine'

Watch out Mustang, there's a new muscular rear-drive sports car about to pop! It's called the Infiniti Q60 and will target the US market first, premiering at the 2016 Detroit motor show in January, before arriving in Australia in late 2016.

Expected to look almost identical to the Q60 concept revealed at the 2015 Detroit show in January, it is understood to be powered by a brand-new, bespoke six-cylinder turbo-petrol engine and — like the current Q60 Coupe — will rival vehicles such as the Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupe and BMW 4 Series Coupe.

Matthew Davis, global director of product and brand communications at Infiniti, explained the thinking behind the Q60 coupe to motoring.com.au during the Q30 launch in Portugal.

"It won't be a top-seller, but it is our image-leading sex machine.

"We have other cars that people could think are image leaders, as far as concepts and so on, but as far as attainable, really beautiful, sexy cars you can get your hands on, that's the one that leads it for us," enthused Davis.

Although he wouldn't confirm a high-output turbo six-cylinder engine to launch the car as expected, he did confirm the platform underneath the Q60 – similar to the Nissan 370Z platform – will be significantly overhauled, bringing with it new techno gadgets and improved levels of refinement and dynamics.

"It's based on a highly upgraded version of quite a viable family platform. It's not the same old, same old. I've read a few articles saying it looks great but it's old [underneath]. That's not true," he said.

If Infiniti really wants to take the fight to its European rivals and offer a range of appealing alternatives, it's going to need a high-performance version of the Q60, to take the fight to high-profile heavy-hitters like the Mercedes-AMG C 63 Coupe.

Quizzed over whether a tyre-shredding, high-output Q60 would appeal to customers without upsetting the accountants of Infiniti customers, his response was matter of fact: "Sure would."

"If you looked at the car you would make some relatively natural conclusions for what our dreams may be for that particular format of car. But I cannot talk about details," he said.

It's clear that Infiniti wants to play ball with the big boys, and we'll know soon enough whether the new Q60 Coupe can give the German bahn-stormers a run for their deutschemarks.