Infiniti News: Infinti Debates Whether To Do A Platform For A Flagship and GT

[William Maley]

By William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

May 8, 2013

Infiniti’s president, Johan de Nysschen tells Car and Driver the brand is considering doing a model above the Q70 (M37 and M56). This new model would likely become the brand's flagship vehicle and it will not be like your conventional luxury sedan.

"Above Q70 you need a car that competes with 7-series, S-class, and Audi A8. That’s conventional thinking. There’s enough action going on in that segment. I don’t think the world needs another car like that. But I do think the world needs an upscale, very emotional, high-performance luxury sedan from Infiniti that might be a different concept," said de Nysschen.

Whatever that mean is anyone's guess. de Nysschen went onto say that if the flagship is given the go ahead, its platform will be used for a GT coupe.

“I think we need some kind of sexy sports car that might share powertrains and platforms with [the range-topping sedan], but an even more emotional iteration.”

Sadly this new GT will not be the Emerg-E concept which was shown the door due to the high pricetag.

Source: Car and Driver

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

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[Drew Dowdell]

I'm not sure you'd want to do a high end sports coupe like the GT on a platform built for a hulking brute of a sedan... but that's just me.

[dwightlooi]

If you don't have enough brand clout and enough market share for a 7-series / S-class competitor, you have even less for an even smaller niche like a uber lux GT or 4-door coupe. If small doesn't justify your R&D money, smaller than very small won't either!

[smk4565]

If they go after the S-class, they'll fail. The best option for Infiniti is probably a 4-seat coupe based on the GT-R but longer, and not as race track inspired. The GT-R is already developed and they could basically put an M56 interior in it and have a halo car. They could go more after the BMW 6-series and Gran Coupe or Audi A7. But that may not sell either, but at least it would have a chance.

[PONTIAC06]

Maybe it was just my interpretation, but I read it as they want to do a high performance luxury sedan...probably not your standard get chauffeured in car, but something like an M6 Gran Coupe competitor...

[ZL-1]

aybe it was just my interpretation, but I read it as they want to do a high performance luxury sedan...probably not your standard get chauffeured in car, but something like an M6 Gran Coupe competitor...

I interpret it the same way as you do, and I think it would be a very interesting take on a flagship model.