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2022 Infiniti QX55 First Drive Review | A gorgeous value

Looking at the luxury crossover market, you can probably guess that there’s a clear demand for fastback variants. All the German automakers offer multiple coupe-like crossovers. The rest of the industry hasn't been so sure, including Infiniti, which didn't originally plan to offer a rakish version of its QX50. Yet here is the 2022 Infiniti QX55, and it's the direct result of customer demand. The people wanted it, so Infiniti brought it.   The company didnÂ’t just stop with the low, curvy roofline, though. The front fascia features a wavy, almost sculptural grille, a deeper chin spoiler and crisp black accents around the outboard grilles. The rear gets wider taillights with pronounced LED segments and a diffuser between the tailpipes. The license plate has been moved to the bumper, too, so that you get a big Infiniti badge and proud brand lettering across the hatch. On top of that, every QX55 gets big 20-inch wheels. These detail changes, plus the new roof make this not only a much more attractive-looking iteration of the QX50 but also arguably the best-looking crossover “coupe” in the segment. InfinitiÂ’s flowing design language naturally complements the QX55Â’s shape, and it looks almost like it was designed to be this way in the first place, whereas competitorÂ’s SUV coupes tend to look like afterthoughts. Mechanically, the QX55 is nearly identical to its boxier QX50 sibling. The only main distinctions are that the QX55 comes with all-wheel drive as standard, and the new body actually improved chassis rigidity by 10%. The engine is the same turbocharged, variable-compression 2.0-liter four-cylinder from the QX50 making the same 268 horsepower and 280 pound-feet of torque. Fuel economy is also identical at 22 mpg city, 28 mpg highway and 25 mpg combined. Power goes through a CVT, which again, is basically the same as the QX50Â’s. ItÂ’s not the smoothest engine in the segment, but itÂ’s a responsive and playful one, delivering great low-end torque. The CVT is smooth and reacts quickly to acceleration demands. It has a manual mode that works decently, too, but you never have full manual control. So you might as well let it do things automatically, which is no bad thing. As for the ride and handling, the QX55, even with its extra rigidity, feels just like the QX50. It has a soft, plush ride and an extremely quiet cabin befitting a luxury car. But when itÂ’s time to corner, itÂ’s deeply disappointing. ThereÂ’s lots of body roll and understeer.

Infiniti Q50 to enter British Touring Car Championship

Infiniti doesn't have much in the way of motorsports heritage. Sure, its logo is currently plastered all over the open-wheelers of the Red Bull Racing Formula One team, but that's little more than a series of stickers - the turbocharged V6 hybrid still comes from corporate cousin Renault.
Perhaps realizing that, the company is dipping its toe into the motorsports pool in a much bigger way (albeit in a far smaller series). The Nissan-owned luxury brand will campaign its Q50 sedan in the notoriously rowdy British Touring Car Championship with a new factory team, called Infiniti Support Our Paras Racing.
The team works with British veterans' charity Support Our Paras, and actually will employ a number of injured vets as part of the team, according to the report on Motor Authority.

Infiniti is blazing an unconventional path to electrification

When it comes to electrification, Infiniti has a history of speaking a great deal but doing little. The Nissan-owned company's plug-in offensive will start in the 2020s, and it provided preliminary details about the technology that motorists can expect to find in showrooms in the not-too-distant future. Eric Rigaux, Infiniti's general manager of product strategy and planning, told Roadshow the firm's engineering department is putting the final touches on two forward-thinking electrified powertrains. The first one will run solely on electricity, while the second one will rely on a gasoline-powered generator to provide more range. Both are being developed to fit into a flexible new platform. Technical details about the electric setup remain vague, so we don't know how big of a battery pack Infiniti will use, or how many motors will draw electricity from it. However, Roadshow learned the gasoline-electric layout will never need to be plugged in, because a 1.5-liter, three-cylinder engine equipped with Infiniti's innovative variable-compression technology will produce the electricity it needs to run. The triple won't directly spin the wheels; it will channel the juice it creates to a battery pack. It's not a zero-emissions solution, but it's one that makes a lot of sense, because users won't need to wait for a charge, and they'll be able to drive for about 500 miles between fill-ups. The now-defunct Chevrolet Volt featured a similar drivetrain, but owners had the possibility of plugging it in. Infiniti won't give motorists that option; there won't be a plug anywhere on the car. Fluid-filled motor mounts and active noise cancellation will ensure the passengers don't feel or hear the triple whirring away. Meanwhile, two electric motors (one over each axle) will deliver between 248 and 429 horsepower; final specifications haven't been signed off yet. And, because power will come from gasoline, there's no need to integrate a bulky battery pack into the chassis. Infiniti's future gasoline-electric models won't require anything bigger than a 5.1-kilowatt-hour unit, which can unintrusively be stuffed under the trunk floor or sandwiched between the floor and the rear seat. Infiniti chose a crossover to inaugurate its battery-electric powertrain; the QX Inspiration concept (pictured) unveiled during the 2019 Detroit Auto Show shed light on what the model will look like.