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Peter Lyon15 Mar 2014
NEWS

Infiniti plotting 500kW flagship sedan

High-performance range-topping four-door coupe in the pipeline from Japanese luxury brand, complete with twin-turbo V6 hybrid power

Infiniti first revealed its radical future design language at the 2009 Geneva motor show in the form of the sumptuous Essence concept coupe, which was widely regarded as the best looking styling yet seen from Nissan and Infiniti.

Now, five years down the track, definitive signs from the 2014 Detroit and Geneva shows and revelations from an insider point to an all-new flagship Infiniti limousine that targets the likes of Porsche’s Panamera.

Infiniti debuted its wild Q50 Eau Rouge concept at the Detroit show and then showed it again at last week’s Geneva show, complete with none other than the GT-R’s 400kW-plus twin-turbo V6, potentially allowing it to target the likes of not only BMW’s M3 but the M5.

Infiniti’s global chief Johann de Nysschen has also said he hopes to top the Japanese premium brand’s range with a flagship supercar potentially based on the Essence, saying "I would like to see commercialisation of the Essence concept towards the back end of the decade”.

But further digging has uncovered an as-yet-unnamed four-door flagship – a long-nosed sumptuous sedan heavily based on the Essence, as this rendering suggests -- that will sit above both the mid-size Q50 and large Q70 (previously M) sedans in Infiniti’s line-up.

Our sources say that as part of Infiniti’s drive to develop a performance car division to rival BMW M, Mercedes-AMG and Audi Sport, all future high-performance Infiniti cars will have the suffix ‘Eau Rouge’ in place of the IPL (Infiniti Performance Line) name, which is being phased out.

As well as registering the Infiniti GT-R name several years ago, it’s believed Nissan has also trademarked the names Q80 and Q90, so there is a strong possibility the new flagship could be called either Q80 Eau Rouge or Q90 Eau Rouge.

Rather a being direct competitor for limousines like the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, BMW 7 Series, Audi A8 or even the Lexus LS, however, Infiniti’s range-topping Eau Rouge will be more like a four-door coupe along similar lines to the Porsche Panamera, BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe, Mercedes CLS, Audi A7 and Maserati Quattroporte.

“We are not planning to create a Mercedes S-Class competitor,” said a senior Nissan executive who confirmed that Infiniti does indeed plan to unveil a high-performance luxury sedan in the near future. “Our goal is to launch a revised four-door version of the Essence.”

The desire not to build an S-Class rival makes a lot of sense when you consider the Renault-Nissan Alliance has only recently tied up with Daimler to co-develop and share technologies. In fact, our source tells us that the new flagship sedan will sit on a new chassis co-developed by Mercedes and Nissan.

“The philosophy inside Nissan is that the GT-R’s combination of explosive power and unparalleled handling allowed it to cream the 911. Now the company plans to create a high-performance flagship, using hybrid technology, that will take the challenge right up to the likes of Panamera and beyond,” says our insider.

Infiniti’s flagship sedan will offer a choice of two advanced twin-turbo hybrid powertrains. The entry model – if you can call it that – will come with a newly developed 3.0-litre turbocharged direct-injection V6 hybrid drivetrain generating around 410kW. And yes, it will be able to run in EV mode for short distances.

Now this is where the story gets interesting. Our source tells us that Nissan engineers are also working on a totally new 3.7-litre V6 twin-turbo hybrid system with an overall output of about 700hp (522kW). The GT-R’s 3.8-litre twin-turbo V6 is a superb unit but has its limitations, says our source.

“The GT-R’s V6 is hand-built and so cannot be built in large numbers. That’s why Nissan bosses wanted to create a more accessible, easy-to-build engine that can be assembled in larger numbers and with lower emissions and better fuel economy than the GT-R.”

To make the story more complicated, however, our insider tells us that Nissan has not yet thrown out the idea of also incorporating a hybrid system into the GT-R’s engine. That will depend on the R&D cost of a brand-new 3.7-litre powerplant.

Whichever way Nissan goes, you can expect the range-topping V6 twin-turbo hybrid sedan to have a top speed north of 300km/h and jump to 100km/h in as little as four seconds.

Both versions are expected to employ the newly modified Attesa all-wheel drive system made so famous in the GT-R. As part of the collaborative effort, Mercedes will also get access to Nissan’s AWD system.

The base 410kW 3.0-litre V6 variant’s specs would make it a rival for the Panamera Turbo, but the top-shelf 520kW 3.7-litre model would be the most powerful in its class.

Slated to debut in 2017 or 2018 with a starting price under $200,000, Infiniti’s all-new grand touring flagship begs perhaps the most important question: Does Nissan’s luxury division have the necessary brand cache to sway buyers from marques like Porsche? Only time will tell.

Illustration: Holiday Auto magazine

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Written byPeter Lyon
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