BippuLexus

I agree. Infiniti definitely dropped the ball on the Infiniti M and Infiniti Q70. I think the problem was - at the time - Nissan didn't know what to do with the Infiniti brand. So they "modernized" the 2009 generation of the Infiniti M interior into the 2011 generation Infiniti M/Q70 interior. Which I think its fine for that time period. Right now - its outdated because the car has been due for a change since last year or the year before that. The car was released in 2011 and then they updated the exterior for the 2014, which is fine. In 2014 - the Infiniti Q70 was still luxurious, in my opinion. But - where they drop the ball - is their refusal to create a next gen model by 2016 for 2017MY or 2017 for 2018MY (which is around the time the 5 Series and E-Class changed to a new generation).

Yeah. I'll believe it when I see the Black S too. Its still a rumor but I'm a bit skeptical on it. The market isn't there for high-performance coupes anymore. So we aren't sure how likely they'll make a Black S Q60 with F1 hybrid tech. They could 100% just bail on it at the last second.

That's a pretty good deal. Was that $44,500 out of the door including taxes and registration? I do agree. The Audi S4 is not worth it at all compared to the Infiniti Q50 RS. The deal isn't there. However - some people really like the Audi badge or quattro. To each their own, I guess.

Dave600hL

"Please don't make the super-suit green! Or animated!"

Benoit

My uncle has a Datsun as I was a child. It was a magnificent car.


This is not a magnificent car.

This in the other hand, is an amateur project that was parked on the internet a long time ago...



And there is much more emotions and excitement coming out of those lines.

UDel

That was the original concept for bringing back the Z before they released the 350Z. It was ugly with a 4 cylinder. People said they loved the idea of bringing back the Z car but did not want it to look like that or have a lame 4 cylinder so they ditched that design/4cylinder thankfully.

UDel

They dropped the ball with the Q70 with the exterior styling and pricing but at least you could get a relatively affordable 420hp V8 option which is sadly missing from the GS unless you want to spend over 80 grand for a rare GS-F. I think the interior design on the Q70 is nice but have not spent any real time in it. The new updates to the G70 are a improvement, I would not mind owning a 8 cylinder one but I was iffy on the reliability, durability of them and they are pretty rare.

plex

iTrader: (11)

Same I love the fact that the V8 is still an option but long term reliability is a concern.

Kense

I'm interested to see what they do with the Q80 maybe that will replace a Q70 all together? Who knows.

Because they are going with this full Hybrid-Electric plan, I think there is a chance they go with the Black S. I'm curious how this will work as it seems it will cut into GT-R Sales. How will they price it? It would probably be int he same price range. I think the GT-R is extremely ugly but it's a monster on the track. A Black S with the Q60 Looks and GT-R performance at a similar cost and you would not have me touch a GT-R i don't care how legendary it is.

Yes that was the out the door price. They negotiate hard early and late in the year so you can get really good deals. Yeah the transmission and interior in the Audi is better but that's about it IMO. I don't think the looks are, in fact the A4/S4 looks like a jetta to me.

BippuLexus

Oh yeah. There is a Q80. Totally forgot about that. Honestly - true - who knows what they'll do with it. I'll hope to see the Q80 as a LS, 7 Series or S Class competitor. Because right now - they don't have anything crazier than a Q70. I hope Infiniti increases their line up size but not over load it like BMW has.

Its likely the Black S Q60 probably won't be as much as a monster as the GT-R. I think the Black S Q60 market place will be in the M3/M4/AMG C63 realm of performance. It could potentially be like Infiniti's M/AMG division. I wish Infiniti never got rid of the IPL line. They should have kept it and build on it.
Because of that - I don't think the Black S Q60 will harm GT-R sales at all. I think at the end, if all these following projects happen, you'll have the Nissan Z (cheapest), Red Sport, Black S, and the GT-R (most expensive) will be the top dog.

Dang! You got over 10K plus off. That was an insanely good out the door price. That's what I heard too - that the end of year deals or at sometime during March is the best time. How much dealerships did you have to visit to get that deal?

Kense

Yeah, they have some exciting things coming up. Hopefully sooner than later. 10-11K off MSRP is about the norm with the Red sports. It's why it's hard to get me out of infiniti. They are always willing to work with me. I went to 3 dealerships. There are 8 Infiniti dealerships in the Bay Area so it's easy to get them to fight over you. I actually went to 3. Two I walked out of and had them blowing my phone up. The final one I spent less than 30 minutes negotiating and was out the door in 2 hours with the deal after I told them my previous horrible experience. I like to go in person because when negotiating cars online there's always a catch. You show up and they claim the car has been sold and try to put you in a similar or lower model etc. It's all BS.

BippuLexus

My word. You live in the Bay? Me too. If you don't mind me asking, which Bay Area Infiniti dealer you bought the car from? I stopped by the Infiniti dealer in SF to test drive with my cousin the other time.

Its true - car salesmen are crooks. They'll BS you at any given time. The main key is just walk away if the deal isn't to your liking. Time is too important to stay dealing with these crooks. That's an insane deal and it took so little time too. Yeah. From what I heard from people and research for my cousin - that Infiniti gives big discounts on the Red Sport models.

Kense

Yup I'm in the Bay, I got the car from Peninsula Infiniti. I had a great experience there. I heard them and Beshoff in San Jose are the two best dealerships to work with. Stay Away from Nello in Concord and Fairfield Infiniti.

BippuLexus

Nice. My friend got his Infiniti G brand new from Peninsula Infiniti back in the day. I heard good things about them too. I heard Beshoff is good too. I haven't heard much about the Fairfield Infiniti and I have never checked it before. Too far to go look at cars there. xD

Kense

When do you get your C43? I was seriously considering that car before the Red Sport but the price wasn't working out. If you don't mind me asking how much did you pay?

BippuLexus

Some time in November/December.

The sticker on the 19 C43 AMG came up to be 64K but my dad knows the Mercedes Benz of SF owner. So, after the connection run through, I paid like 50K for it out the door. Legit - if I bought it and sold it right after, I would net profit.

Carmaker1

Yeah LOL, I can tell and it works for you. BTW, it is very disappointing at Nissan. Certain execs just should go at this point and be more sensible about who they hire in their place or in powerful positions. Nissan FWD will get all the goodies, while RWD and Infiniti struggles. There are more problems even now, but I am hopeful they meet 2021 as launch date of the new EV-capable architecture and finish the Z34 refresh.

Infiniti lost me as a customer, after they delayed the CV37 coupe, now known as the Q60 and then removed the 6MT (like in the Q50), I had enjoyed in my 2008 G35S sedan. My goal upon 2013 graduation, was to upgrade to the CV37 coupe.

Everything was fine with the G's future, until MB got in the mix in spring 2010. The current car known as the Q50, being developed as "V37", was intended to be unveiled as the 2012MY G37 at the NYIAS in April 2011. They cancelled the car and redid somethings from about April 2010 to June 2011, when the final design was re-frozen. 2010 would've been the year, a 3rd generation G37 coupe design would've been approved design-wise and then launched in late 2012 as MY2013.

That hadn't reached final form like the sedan by spring 2010, so it was withheld and focus was turned solely to the sedan until 2011, when work resumed on the coupe. In 2012, they had just about approved the final CV37 coupe design for 2014 launch as a MY2015, when new President Johan de Nysschen saw it in mid-2012 and sent them back to the drawing board. He said, it looked like a Q50 with the rear doors chopped off. In 2013, the final article now known as the Q60 was approved by the board and then engineered for production until 2016, when it was released as a MY 2017 car.

That car I had waited some 9 years for disappointed me and forced me to forget getting another Infiniti altogether. My first long-term car was that 2008 G35S 6MT, so I have never forgiven them for omitting that option, yet including it in the MB-sourced 2.2 diesel Q50 in other export markets. The 2.2 diesel needs eons more power, compared to the VQ37 and VR30DDTT.

I have very deep Nissan connections and I ask the right questions, without implicating anyone in violation of NDAs. My Toyota connections are much more shallow of course, so I have to rely more on asking around and is much harder to figure out. Many other engineers or team members do not mind giving me an idea if a design has been set or not for a future model, but often issue with me asking what it actually looks like and send me away if it gets to that. My approach is: I'll see it, when it comes and don't like to push too much, to scare someone off from answering my questions. Also, I have access to industry databases for certain suppliers, which does at times give away a stage of development a model is at. Not to mention being very knowledgeable about product planning patterns. It all comes together, but is not always 100% obviously.

Well, it's not for the 2021 model year, unless production can be magically shifted forward. Believe it or not, the BMW F30 doesn't even offer cooled seats neither does Lexus nor Alfa Romeo. Only the Jaguar XE, with ventilated seats on the C-Class and A4. He is referring to calendar year of launch not the 2021 model year, unless they will somehow manage to introduce it mid-year.

I'm sorry, but this is why I can be very pedantic at times. Model years are not literal, meaning they don't represent real dates in time when a car is released. They are more like a season that changes year-to-year, so I really suggest people just take it as rule of thumb, that a given model year is released the preceding numerical value as in 2012 Model = 2011 release. Nowadays it is an exception, to have a model year released the same year like the 2018 LS 500. Even that was unveiled in January 2017, so that isn't saying much. Your Q50 example highlights this and is more extreme for the former Infiniti M nameplate.

The Y51 M37 and M56 were not launched in 2011. The Y51 was introduced in Japan in late 2009 as the Nissan Fuga and Infiniti M production began in December 2009 ahead of its March 2010 launch date as a 2011 model. Therefore, this car has been in production for almost 9 years and has another 2.5 years to go. It was indeed supposed to be redesigned for MY 2018, then that got cancelled. Refreshed a second time for MY 2019, then cancelled again. The product planning decisions for this car have been abysmal and the last time a Q70 clay model actually made it to production, was the one completed in 2012 for the MY 2015 facelift. So, all the other clay models and design proposals haven't made it anywhere since 2012. The most jobless designers in the world. The latest clay model, hopefully makes it through to 2021. They are know having to cram in Q70 and Q50 replacements into one calendar year and might not even make it by December 2021, due to lateness of certain engineering targets.

As I said above, it was not released in 2011. It was both unveiled and entered production in the fourth quarter of 2009, arriving in showrooms in early 2010. The basic design was set 11 years ago in 2007, just as minor changes arrived for MY2008 on the previous generation M35 and M45. Both the QX80 and Q70 were supposed to run parallel, as both the QX56 and M56 designs were approved in 2007, QX80 and Q70 facelifts approved in 2012 for MY 2015. There was no money to redesign them ground-up for MY 2018, especially no thanks to the Titan situation, Mitsubishi takeover, excess volume of Nissans, and many more. Yet the goldmine QX80 got another facelift MY 2018/19, while the Q70 languishes untouched.

This was a proposal from August 2014 for the next Q70 in small scale clay. This was scheduled for Spring 2018 as a late arrival MY2018.

Proposal for the next generation Q50, as some of you already saw a many months back from me






The UK Studio BTW partly designed the Y51 exteriors and interiors back in 2006-07, while the previous generation M (Y50) interior was designed in Japan during 2000 and the first half of 2002.That was very well received upon launch in 2005 and was start of Infiniti/Nissan return to quality interiors. The brand didn't start having problems, until ROI suffered with the more expensive interiors of the late 2000s/early 2010s and abandoned projects/production models at 11th hour, plus recession and 2011 earthquake.

A lot of money was poured into the Nissan-Ram partnership, which went to waste. As well as early Q45 replacement and some planned halo and EV models that got nixed or were losses like the Leaf. A base Q50 and Q56 never made it to production due to the market crash. The FX50 was never supposed to use that 5.0 V8 engine alone, as it was supposed to be shared with a flagship Q50, below Q56.

Yeah, Nissan Design in La Jolla had created that concept in 1998, following cancellation of the 300ZX in 1996 and official plans to not redesign it in 1997. In early 1999 it was unveiled and got mixed reactions. Within months, Renault sent Carlos Ghosn to restructure Nissan and he ironically championed a new generation. A new design program began immediately and by February of 2000, the 350Z final design was fully defined and later shown on January 8, 2001 at the NAIAS as a "concept". It went on sale in the summer of 2002 as a 2003 model. In late 2005, the 370Z design was approved during a difficult period following Hurricane Katrina, where they had issue with molding the clay models for it. The current stage is full size clay for the updated Z34, while the Z35 is not on target.