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2023 Infiniti Q50 Red Sport 400 Black Opal steals Midnight Purple thunder

The Infiniti Q50 Red Sport 400 gets a special wardrobe option for 2023, a Black Opal iridescent paint job that shifts from black to blue to green to purple depending on the light and viewing angle. The paint is matched with satin black badging and an exposed carbon fiber decklid spoiler, accessories certain to suit any of the color-shifted hues. Grouped into a Black Opal Edition Package, the styling upgrade adds $2,200 to the price of the Q50 Red Sport 400 that starts at $59,575 before options. The inclusion of the word "Edition" is the clue to this being sold in limited numbers. Infiniti didn't say how many would be offered for our market, but based on the historical connections Infiniti is making with this, we expect it won't be more than a few hundred. Black Opal on the Q50 wants to trace its lineage to the now legendary Midnight Purple II, a color introduced on the R34 Nissan Skyline GT-R in 1998. Quick history lesson: There was a Midnight Purple that first appeared on the R33 GT-R, known as Midnight Purple I or by its paint code LP2, but it was solid metallic purple. Nissan introduced the iridescence with Midnight Purple II (LV4) with a blue-green color shift on the R34 GT-R, then did it again with Midnight Purple III (LX0) that shimmered blue-orange. All three were limited editions, and all three get huge money at auction now. Nissan let loose an R35 GT-R with a Midnight Opal paint job for the 2014 model year, restricted to 100 units worldwide. The redux came for the 2022 model year with the GT-R T-spec that could be had in Midnight Purple, also limited.    That's where the Black Opal Edition Q50 Red Sport 400 gets its mojo from. The 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 with 400 horsepower and 350 pound-feet of torque doesn't hurt, either.

Is your new-car warranty good at the race track?

We've all heard the horror stories. Your buddy knows a girl that was dating a guy whose best friend's brother once broke his brand-new, recently purchased performance car while making runs at a drag strip or laps at a track day, and the manufacturer wouldn't cover the repair under warranty. True story? Urban legend? Complete crap? Yes, no, maybe. One thing's for sure: Automotive warranties have always come with caveats. In 1908, an ad in the Trenton Evening Times clearly stated: "All Ford Cars Guaranteed for One Year." Although it changed over time, by 1925 the Ford New Car Guarantee only covered 90 days on material and 30 days on labor, and it clearly stated that that there was "No guarantee whatever on Fan Belts, Glass, Bulbs, Wiring, Transmission, Bands, Hose Connections, Commutator Shells, Rollers, Spark Plugs or Gaskets." Whether or not Ol' Henry would pay to fix your Model T if you broke it shaving a tenth off your lap time at the local board track seems to be lost to history. We're guessing no. But what about today? Do new-car warranties in 2017 cover cars when they are driven on race tracks? We researched the warranties of 14 auto brands to find out, and the answer is yes, no, maybe, depending on the brand, in some cases the model, and whether or not your car is modified from stock. Acura has been out of the high-performance car game for a number of years, but jumps back into the party in 2017 with its hybrid-powered $173,000 NSX supercar. And Acura's warranty, as well as Honda's, clearly states that it does not cover "the use of the vehicle in competition or racing events." View 33 Photos So we asked Sage Marie, Senior Manager of Public Relations for Honda and Acura. "If the car is stock, the warranty covers it on a track just as it does on the street. No question," he told us. "However, if the car is modified, say with slick tires or other components that would put higher stresses on the vehicle's parts and systems, then we would have to investigate the circumstances further." Marie went on to say the same would be true for any Acura model or Honda vehicle, including the new 2017 Honda Civic Si. This became a common theme. Chevrolet actually started this practice with the fifth-generation Camaro on the high-performance ZL1 and Z/28 models.

Daimler and Nissan to build luxury cars at new plant in Mexico

A few years back, when Daimler was looking for a partner to spread the cost of development of small cars, it agreed to collaborate with Nissan on future products, such as vehicle platforms and drivetrains. The latest development in the collaboration concerns the assembly of small luxury cars for Infiniti and Mercedes-Benz at a Nissan plant in Mexico, two unnamed sources told Reuters.
The plant in question, Aguascalientes, is a $2 billion project that will open later this year next to an existing Nissan factory. The upcoming Infiniti Q30 four-door hatchback is expected to be built there, possibly alongside the Mercedes GLA-Class, which is one of several candidates Mercedes is considering to build at this facility, Reuters reports. The GLA will debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show this month, and initial production of the model will take place in Germany. The Q30 could follow a similar path, with assembly starting at Nissan's Sunderland plant in the UK, and then expanding to Aguascalientes later on.
The underlying platform of the Q30 and GLA, codenamed New Generation Compact Car (NGCC), was developed by Daimler. The Q30 would be the first Infiniti produced under the automakers' agreement. Last year, Nissan agreed to make engines that would find their way into Mercedes and Infiniti vehicles.