2005 Infiniti Fx35 ,suv ,4x4 With Gps & Camera on 2040-cars

Auto blog

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.

Infiniti QX80 to spearhead new direction for Nissan's luxury brand

Infiniti has had a tumultuous time in the last few years. However, a new plan is under way to revive Nissan's luxury marque, and to give it some much-needed direction. Now, Infiniti chairman Peyman Kargar has detailed his plans for the first time, and revealed that the QX80 will be at the vanguard of this new push. Left to languish under former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn's quest for market share at the cost of all else, Infiniti's lineup failed to receive the necessary updates in several hotly contested segments. In a time when the luxury brands have seen record profits, Infiniti has instead seen its sales plummet. In 2018 the brand was among the first to announce a date by which it would "go electric." That was taken by many to mean solely electric or hybrid vehicles after 2021, but that time has come and gone. Infiniti missed its own deadline for a first EV model last year, and sales have nosedived by more than 50 percent since 2019 (117,708 in U.S. sales in 2019, versus 58,553 in 2021). Part of that is due to the  pandemic and resulting semiconductor shortage that's plagued the entire industry, but there's no doubt that the brand is seldom uttered in the same breath as Mercedes, BMW, Lexus or Audi. Speaking with Automotive News, Kargar outlined a three-phase plan to get Infiniti back on its feet. The first phase, focusing on restructuring and recovery, was just completed in March. Infiniti has now turned record profits globally, Kargar said.  Phase two has now begun and will play out through March 2026. By this time next year, designers will have locked in a new corporate face to take over on all new models. Leading the charge with that identity will be a new QX80 that arrives in late 2023 or early 2024.  Kargar didn't disclose details, but called it the future flagship of the marque. It will have enhanced performance specs to distance itself from the Nissan Armada on which it is based. Infiniti hopes that the QX will be seen as a competitor against the likes of the Cadillac Escalade Lexus LX, and Range Rover. Despite riding on the same platform as the Patrol — a Land Cruiser-like body-on-frame SUV — since 2010, the QX has not fallen in sales as much as other models. Part of the rebranding also includes a unification of Infiniti's identity. Kargar spoke of a new dealership look and feel, which includes a "brand scent" for showrooms and a "sound signature" that will tie in apps, websites, and call centers.

Recharge Wrap-up: Cruz defends ethanol stance, Bloomberg gets EV numbers wrong?

Republican presidential hopeful Senator Ted Cruz is defending his stance against ethanol subsidies in an opinion piece in The Des Moines Register. In the piece, Cruz says he doesn't oppose ethanol, but opposes mandates and subsidies, favoring a "free and fair energy marketplace," and an "'all of the above' policy." "We should embrace all of the energy resources with which God has blessed America: oil and gas, coal, nuclear, wind, solar, and biofuels and ethanol," says Cruz, "But Washington shouldn't be picking winners and losers." To farmers' benefit, Cruz says he would enforce antitrust laws against those who try to keep ethanol out of the marketplace, and fight the EPA's hard blend walls prohibiting higher amounts of ethanol in gasoline. Read Cruz's article at The Des Moines Register, and read more from The Washington Times.Hybrid Cars calls out Bloomberg Business in a post saying it used inaccurate data in a piece highlighting dim plug-in sales. While the Bloomberg article, titled "Plug-in Electric Autos Left Behind in Record Year," accurately points out a slower year for EVs, it claims sales slipped 17 percent in 2015. According to data from Hybrid Cars, that decline was just 2.88 percent. Hybrid Cars claims that Bloomberg lumped a number of PHEVs with regular hybrids when it calculated the faulty data. Read more about the discrepancy and the more realistic picture of EV sales at Hybrid Cars.The National Biodiesel Board has hired Sandra Franco as general counsel. The Georgetown University Law Center graduate gained experience in environmental litigation during her time as a partner at the Morgan Lewis Law Firm. "There isn't an attorney in the country who knows renewable fuels law better than Sandra Franco, and we are thrilled to have her join our team," says National Biodiesel Board CEO Joe Jobe. "Sandra is a tremendously skilled and seasoned attorney who will help us ensure that the US biodiesel industry has a strong voice and expert counsel in Washington as well as on legal and regulatory issues across the country." Read more at Crop Protection News.Nissan and Infiniti will use Microsoft Azure to power the Connect Telematics System (CTS) for the Nissan Leaf and Infiniti cars in Europe. CTS allows a remote connection to the car, enabling customers to perform a variety of functions from afar. This includes adjusting climate control and programming charging from a smartphone.