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Infiniti to launch first electric car, to be made in China

BEIJING — The first electric car for Nissan's premium brand Infiniti will be a sporty sedan produced in China, the Japanese carmaker said in a statement viewed by Reuters ahead of a public announcement expected as soon as Wednesday. The vehicle would hit the market in around three years, and consumers would get a taste when the company unveils a concept car, dubbed the Qs Inspiration electric sedan, at the Shanghai auto show later this week, Nissan officials said. "China has the most growth potential for electric vehicles globally, especially in the premium segment," Infiniti Chairman Christian Meunier said in the statement seen by Reuters. Automakers operating in China have to sell more so-called new-energy vehicles, either battery electric cars or plug-in electric hybrids, to comply with official production quotas designed to reduce smog. It was not immediately clear whether Infiniti planned to produce its first electric vehicle in other markets. An Infiniti spokesman said, however, the brand did not intend to export the e-sedan from China. The planned e-sedan is part of Infiniti's longer-term strategy to significantly electrify its product lineup. Brand officials have said that from 2021 every Infiniti model launched will be either an all-electric car or so-called "e-Power" hybrids, underlining Nissan's previously announced plan to make Infiniti primarily an electrified offering. The sedan likely would be built on a new flexible architecture developed specifically to accommodate electrified powertrains, Infiniti said in the statement. Its design, especially the interior, would be significantly different than current models, design chief Karim Habib said. EVs do not have bulky gasoline engines and transmissions, opening up space inside the car. "It will have a flat floor, and if you are a passenger you can cross your legs or stretch out your legs," Habib told Reuters. Competition in China's rapidly emerging electric car market is heating up amid an onslaught of models from startups such as Nio and WM Motor, as well as those from established automakers. In the luxury segment, Infiniti will be competing with Tesla Model S and Model X, as well as other models due to be launched in coming months by Audi, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Lexus.

2015 Italian Grand Prix is smoke, mirrors, stalls, and stewards

For the first day-and-a-half of the Italian Formula One Grand Prix weekend, everything went to blueprint: Mercedes in front, Ferrari lurking, everyone else scrambling in their usual orders behind. Then qualifying came, and someone stirred the pot. About the only thing we expected was for Lewis Hamilton to put his Mercedes-AMG Petronas on pole position, the 11th time he's done it this year. He did it with a brand-new specification engine, one that represents not only an evolution in components, but also in power unit philosophy. Kimi Raikkonen lines up in second. It's been a long time since we read those words; the Iceman hasn't been on the first row since the 2013 Chinese Grand Prix, when he put his Lotus second on the grid behind... Lewis Hamilton. Raikkonen lined up just ahead of a Ferrari at that China race, then driven by Fernando Alonso. In Italy this weekend, he lined up in front of the Ferrari driven by his teammate, Sebastian Vettel, who qualified third. Both Ferraris benefitted from an upgraded power unit, ending a front-row drought for the scuderia that goes all the way back to Monaco in 2009 Germany in 2012. Nico Rosberg has a lot of work to do from fourth in the second Mercedes-AMG Petronas. Mercedes discovered a problem with Rosberg's engine but couldn't figure out the cause, so he reverted to the previous-spec engine he used in Belgium, one that's six races old. The lack of power hurt. Williams teammates Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas took fifth and sixth, with Massa seemingly given a team-ordered helping hand. Williams told Bottas to tow Massa down the front straight, giving Massa a blistering time in the first sector. Then Bottas did it again, ensuring he would line up behind Massa. The first Sahara Force India of Sergio Perez nabbed seventh, three places ahead of teammate Nico Hulkenberg in tenth, with Romain Grosjean in the Lotus behind Perez in eighth. Marcus Ericsson in the Sauber qualified ninth, but some clumsy driving saw him impede Hulkenberg twice. The stewards penalized Ericsson with a three-place grid penalty and two points on his superlicense, so Hulkenberg inherited ninth and Pastor Maldonado in the second Lotus inherited tenth. We hardly saw Hamilton during the race, because he led from the start, worked up a larger gap to second place on every lap, and didn't give up the lead for the whole event.

2022 Infiniti QX60 fully revealed with vastly improved design

After a "concept" was shown last September, the significantly redesigned 2022 Infiniti QX60 has finally been revealed. And inside and out, it's a huge design improvement. It has a more traditional SUV exterior, with a much more modern and luxurious-looking interior complete with an infotainment system from this decade. As expected, the production QX60 looks just like the concept, and that's good in our book. It has a boxier, more confident shape but still with the brand's signature curvy detailing. The new two-tone paint is only available on the top-level Autograph trim, though. Interestingly, the new QX60 has the same wheelbase as the crossover it replaces, though it's overall two inches shorter and about an inch taller. Perhaps not surprisingly, the QX60's interior doesn't seem to have changed in size much. Only cargo space has been announced, and while it has 1.4 cubic feet more space with the third row folded, space is down by between 0.4 and 1.4 cubic feet behind the first row and the third row respectively. Space wasn't really the QX60's interior weakness, though — that was in the extremely dated design. Fortunately, the new model tosses everything from the old one out the window. It now has a low, flowing dash that helps provide a more airy feeling. It has the en vogue full-width air vents. It's particularly fetching in Autograph trim as shown above with semi-aniline quilted leather and open-pore wood trim. The infotainment is updated and features a 12.3-inch touchscreen. It can be matched with an available 12.3-inch instrument screen and a 10.8-inch head-up display. Infiniti has added additional sound-deadening, too, and among the standard features are a panoramic sunroof, three-zone automatic climate control, eight-way power heated seats, wireless Apple CarPlay, wired Android Auto and seating for seven. The Autograph swaps the second-row bench for captain's chairs. Powering the new QX60 is a tried-and-true 3.5-liter V6 making the same 295 horsepower and 270 pound-feet of torque as before. But, like its cousin the Nissan Pathfinder, it's now connected to a nine-speed automatic transmission, which also bumped towing capacity up to 6,000 pounds. Front-wheel drive is standard with all-wheel drive available on all trim levels. Infiniti says the all-wheel-drive system has been reworked for faster engagement, and it's able to send up to half of the engine's power to the rear wheels.