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Infiniti is pulling out of Western Europe, cutting models

BEIJING — Nissan's premium brand Infiniti has announced it will exit Western Europe early next year, as it restructures its global operations and focuses on the world's top two auto markets. Infiniti said it will discontinue the Q30 sedan and the QX30 sport-utility vehicle and cease their production by the middle of 2019 at Nissan's manufacturing factory in Sunderland, England. Both models are sold globally but produced only in Britain. The QX30 is sold in the United States. The move comes as Infiniti seeks to divert its resources to markets with bigger opportunities, such as China and the United States, from a region where non-European premium brands are struggling to compete against local players such as Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Nissan also recently scrapped plans to build its new X-Trail SUV in Britain amid the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, saying it had taken the decision to optimize its investments by building the next generation model in Japan. "Western Europe remains the most challenging and competitive region for premium cars," Infiniti's chief spokesman, Trevor Hale, told Reuters. Infiniti's sales in western Europe almost halved last year to 5,800 vehicles. In addition to the tough competition, the Japanese premium brand, headquartered in Hong Kong since 2012, has struggled to effectively meet emissions and other regulatory requirements in the region, Hale said, referring to stringent Euro 6 emissions requirements and other regulatory challenges. "The commercial reality for Infiniti in Western Europe is that there is simply no visibility of a viable and sustainable business, especially given the regulatory challenges," he said. Infiniti said an exit from Western Europe will allow it to focus on its initiative to electrify a good portion of its product portfolio from 2021 and discontinue diesel offerings. The brand plans to focus more on its SUV lineup in North America, bring five new or significantly-redesigned vehicles to China over the next five years, improve quality of sales and residual value and realize more synergies with Nissan. "This is all part of Infiniti's vision to become a top challenger brand in the premium segment," it said. As it prepares to withdraw from Western Europe, Infiniti said it is working to find alternative opportunities for employees who would be affected, consulting with employee representatives where necessary and identifying opportunities for transition and training support where appropriate.

2022 Infiniti QX55 Review | Price, performance, size, comparisons with QX50

Carmakers love calling them coupes, but as they have four doors, that's still a tough sell for our dictionary. So, let's go with fastback SUV for now, and say that the 2022 Infiniti QX55 is one of the best-looking examples of the growing bunch. Even if Infiniti wasn't originally intending to lop off the back of its QX50 compact crossover, the afterthought project to turn it into the QX55 was nevertheless a successful one. When parked next to a BMW X4 or Audi Q5 Sportback, we know the QX55 would do the prettiest job sprucing up the driveway. It's nicely proportioned and tastefully detailed with just a hint of Infiniti's forever cool FX SUV at the rear. The interior is also interesting to behold and pleasing to touch. Unfortunately, the QX55's aesthetics are its main selling point. Driving it is a real letdown as its underwhelming handling and soul-sucking continuously variable transmission just aren’t up to snuff for a luxury model. It makes the QX55 feel like you're driving a Nissan Altima. And even if you're less concerned with a car's driving dynamics, the QX55's odd and antiquated tech interface is sure to be a put-off after seeing what BMW, Audi and Mercedes have to offer. Of course, all of this could be said of the QX50. At least the QX55 has aesthetics on its side.   What's new for 2022? The QX55 is an all-new model, although the QX50 upon which it's based has been around since 2019. 2022 Infiniti QX55 View 25 Photos What's the QX55 interior and in-car technology like? The QX55 interior is a highlight. ItÂ’s lifted from the QX50, and thatÂ’s good. ItÂ’s just as flowy as the exterior, and on our Sensory trim level test car, it was fitted with sumptuous red and black leather on nearly every surface, plus some natural-finish wood trim across the dash and doors. Lower trim models arenÂ’t quite as flashy but still feature the same attractive design. It's all suitably elevated for a luxury car. On the other hand, the dual-screen infotainment system is at best bizarre and at worst antiquated.  Most infotainment functions are accessed and operated via the touchscreen at the bottom of the stack. That placement makes it easy to reach but hard to see. The top screen controls the navigation system and Apple/Android integration, is of a noticeably lower resolution, and is controlled either by touch or with a control wheel on the center console next to the shifter.

Nissan, Kia under investigation over occupant detection systems

Kia and Nissan are facing separate investigations by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration because of alleged problems with the occupant detection systems in their vehicles' airbags. The larger investigation is NHTSA's new engineering analysis into 986,826 Nissan and Infiniti vehicles. They include the 2013 Nissan NV200 and 2013-2014 Altima, Leaf, Pathfinder, and Sentra. Among the Infinitis, there are the 2013 JX35 and 2014 Q50 and QX60. Owners allege the occupant classification system can misidentify passengers and turn off the airbag if they don't weigh enough. Nissan recalled over a million vehicles worldwide last year to fix the same problem with a software update, but NHTSA kept getting complaints about the issue after the repair. The agency opened a preliminary evaluation in March, and after 1,271 complaints it has now been updated to an engineering analysis. The Feds intend to evaluate the effectiveness of Nissan's solution. NHTSA is also opening a preliminary evaluation into the 2007-2009 Kia Spectra for the occupant classification not working properly, and it could affect an estimated 186,000 of these vehicles. The government agency has 43 complaints from people allegedly reporting the failures. According to NHTSA, the issue could result in the airbag not deploying with enough force or not activating at all in an accident. This investigation is meant to assess the scope of the potential flaw, and there's no recall yet. INVESTIGATION Subject : Occupant Classification System Fault Date Investigation Opened: SEP 01, 2015 Date Investigation Closed: Open NHTSA Action Number: PE15031 Component(s): AIR BAGS All Products Associated with this Investigation Vehicle Make Model Model Year(s) KIA SPECTRA 2007-2009 Details Manufacturer: Kia Motors America SUMMARY: The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) has received 43 complaints alleging a malfunction of the front passenger seat occupant classification system (OCS) in 2007-2009 Kia Spectra vehicles. The complaints report illumination of the SRS (air bag) warning light. All of the complaints allege the cause of the light illumination to be a malfunction of the OCS sensor mat imbedded in the passenger seat cushion, and/or report the presence of diagnostic trouble code B1448 which relates to the OCS sensor mat also. Many of the complaints note the malfunction occurred after the warranty period expired and mention high repair costs as a major deterrent to repairing the vehicle.