2018 Infiniti QX50 to be the brand’s game-changer

Infiniti is confident that its upcoming medium-sized luxury SUV based on the QX Sport Inspiration Concept will become the lynchpin on which it will build solid and sustainable growth over the next few years.

Unveiled as a show car at the Beijing Auto Salon in April, the 4.6-metre long crossover is rumoured to wear the Infiniti QX50 badge when it arrives in Australia in the first or second quarter of 2018.

Production will commence later next year, possibly at a new joint-venture plant with 3.1 percent stakeholder Daimler in Mexico.

In Australia, the over-$60,000 medium luxury SUV market has jumped over 50 percent in just the past 12 months alone.

Espousing Infiniti’s “Powerful Elegance” styling language also seen in the newly released Infiniti Q60 sports/luxury coupe, the QX50 features a long bonnet and sleek silhouette to give it some visual aggression in an increasingly crowded sector.

Engines are likely to be 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol and diesels, as well as the brand’s 3.0-litre turbo V6.

According to Infiniti Cars Australia managing director, Jean-Philippe Roux, the new contemporary look will naturally help people gravitate towards the brand in the way they previously did not.

As a result, Roux hopes, the QX50 will usher in the next phase of the company’s growth plans in Australia.

“Stage One was coming to market in 2012 with the G37/Q50. Stage Two is this year, with the release of the revised Q50, all-new Q30/QX30 (luxury hatchback and its crossover sibling), and now the Q60, and in 2018, Stage Three. This is where the takes us to the next level of volume and brand awareness.”

In contrast, Audi has already just cracked 20,000, BMW is flying high at 24,349, while Mercedes-Benz leads the luxury marques with 34,198 sales – or 29,860 if the commercial vehicles like the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter and Vito are excluded.

Land Rover and Lexus, meanwhile, are at 11,585 and 7941 respectively, so Infiniti still has a huge amount of ground to gain.

“We still have a lot of work to tell the Infiniti story,” Roux admitted. “But this will give us the boost we need.”