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Infiniti brand will finally make its debut in Japan, but not the name

Nissan left the automotive media scratching its collective head when it announced that its Infiniti luxury brand would be renaming all of its vehicles, with cars wearing the Q designation and CUVs/SUVs wearing the QX badge. So the G Sedan became the Q50, and the G Coupe became the Q60. The QX56, meanwhile, became the QX80, and the FX crossover became the QX70. It is still thoroughly confusing nearly a year later.
Not content to confuse its US customers alone, Nissan will be fiddling with the name of one of its most revered Japanese-market models - the Skyline. Rebadged for the US as the Q50, and before that as the G Sedan/Coupe, the new Skyline will wear an Infiniti badge. What makes this truly confusing, though, is that the car won't be called the Infiniti Skyline, despite its badging. It won't even be called the Nissan Skyline, anymore. It's now just the Skyline. Apparently, Nissan thinks it can capitalize on the Skyline's link to the Japanese royal family (the Skyline was originally a product of Prince Motors, which provided vehicles for the Emperor and his family), by ditching any brand names and referring to it as its own model, according to Automotive News.
Now, confusion aside, there are things about Infiniti badging in Japan that make sense. Badging all the Nissans that eventually become Infinitis as Infinitis in the first place goes a long way to make the brand seem separate and distinct from its parent company. Speaking to AN, Infiniti's executive vice president of global product planning, Andy Palmer, puts it this way, "We have to treat Infiniti, if you will, in the same [way] that Volkswagen treats Audi. It's not a Nissan-plus. Infiniti has to stand head-to-head with any of those German competitors."

Infiniti Pebble Beach retro concept is a '50s-inspired electric grand prix car

Infiniti will debut a retro-inspired race car at next week's Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance that combines the style of classic grand prix open-wheel cars with modern design elements and powertrains. The car should fit right in at Pebble Beach alongside all the vintage machinery from the early days of motorsports. Simply dubbed the Infiniti retro prototype, it is Infiniti's idea of what could have been. Basically, the Japanese automaker imagined that it found a car hidden away for 70 years in southern Japan. They took that old look and married it with the brand's "Powerful Elegance" design language. We only have a couple of photos, but it looks like a sleek silver bullet with narrow-section bias-ply tires. We'll have to wait until next week to see the entire thing, but this teaser has us excited. As expected with any modern concept, the retro prototype eschews an awesome multi-carb gasoline engine in favor of Infiniti's EV technology. It's unclear if the car actually runs, but we'd all love to see this put some laps down at nearby Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Related Video:

Infiniti announces pricing for 2014 QX60 and QX70

With the exception of the G37, customers walking into Infiniti showrooms this summer are going to see a bunch of different names pop up as the automaker switches to its new Q-for-car and QX-for-crossover/SUV naming convention for 2014. The first of these renamed models are the 2014 QX60 (which replaces the JX) starting at $41,550* and the 2014 QX70 (which replaces the FX) priced at $44,950* (*prices do not include $995 for destination), and both are on sale now.
Compared to the outgoing models, the new QX60 (seen above, click to enlarge) lineup starts $300 more than the outgoing JX models (base and AWD), while pricing for the QX70 will remain the same as the trio of 2013 FX models (FX37, FX37 AWD and FX50). What is still unclear is how much the all-new QX60 Hybrid model will cost or how much option and package pricing will change, if any. Scroll down for more info on the new QX60 and QX70 crossovers.