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Recharge Wrap-up: Infiniti considers EV for China, NextEV hires former Tesla, Apple engineer

NextEV has hired Tesla Autopilot and Apple veteran Jamie Carlson as Senior Director of Advanced Technologies. The seasoned autonomous driving engineer joins fellow former Autopilot engineer Kurt Thywissen, who is now NextEV Senior Director of Human-Machine Interaction. NextEV, which is working on an all-electric supercar before focusing on mainstream EVs, recently obtained a self-driving car permit from California and opened its North American headquarters in San Jose. Read more at Electrek. Infiniti is considering launching its first EV in China. "When I think about EV, we design it for China definitely, even as the first market to launch," says Infiniti President Roland Krueger. "We are discussing this internally constantly what is the right timing for Infiniti to have such vehicles." Infiniti has held back on launching an EV, focusing instead on hybrids, but says it could be "very fast" in deploying an EV once it decides to do so. Having Nissan and Renault backing Infiniti, the luxury brand is confident about its access to proven EV technology. Read more at Automotive News Europe. Thrifty car rental has added a Tesla Model S to its fleet in Canberra, Australia. Available at the Canberra Airport, it's the first luxury EV offered for rent from a mainstream rental company in Australia. Australia's capital offers a small registration discount and no stamp duty for EVs, making it a cheaper and more practical place to locate the country's first rental Tesla. Thrifty's parent company, NRMA, is calling on Australia's other states and territories to remove financial and regulatory barriers to EV technology. Read more at The Motor Report.

Infiniti plans overhaul of infotainment system by 2021

Infiniti is working on a fully overhauled infotainment system starting in 2021 that will feature bigger displays but retain the current dual-touchscreen setup. In the meantime, upgrades including Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity will be added to existing systems starting next year, depending on the market. "Next year is going to be the first step of improvement," Infiniti's vice president of product strategy, Francois Bancon, told Australian outlet GoAuto. "And as we move forward with a bigger display, 12.0-inch, 15.0-inch, whatever, of course we are going to improve the accuracy." He also indicated that "only the media" complains about the dual-screen display and that customer feedback has been strong. "The appearance of the system, for example in QX50, which is the same as in Q50, we're not going to change. But we just redesign the whole system behind more capacity, faster reaction time, high-definition display and full connectivity." So the new system will keep the dual-screen setup, which today involves the top screen handling mostly navigation and redundant audio information while the lower screen is used to control vehicle, phone and audio functions (see the below video for more info on how it works). The QX50, which goes on sale in the United States later this year, will also be the first Infiniti to get a 9-inch color head-up display on the windshield, plus smartphone mirroring and data-derived weather and other apps. The rollout of a new infotainment system coincides with Infiniti's plan to build its first all-electric car in 2021 and release hybrids based on Nissan's e-Power technology. Parent company Nissan has said it wants to sell 1 million electric vehicles annually by 2022. Related Video:

Infiniti electric crossover will mark a milestone at Detroit Auto Show

In November, it was announced that both Nissan and Infiniti will display EV concepts at the 2019 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, taking place in January. Previously, it wasn't made clear what kind of vehicles they would be, but Infiniti stated today that its Detroit concept will be an electric crossover. Both the Nissan and Infiniti concepts will continue the design direction shown by Infiniti's Q Inspiration concept, and later next year, there will be stylistically similar cars shown at the Tokyo Motor Show in October. The luxury brand has released the above teaser photo of the crossover, depicting sharp headlights and a lit grille outline surrounding the badging. We can also see large wheels and tires and sizeable, defined wheel arches. Future Infinitis will be electrified from 2021 on, featuring either serial hybrid tech or full electric drivetrains. Serial hybrid refers to using Nissan's e-power technology, which relies on range extender engines instead of a large combustion engine (such as Infiniti's lauded VC-Turbo). The Detroit Auto Show is also a significant event for Infiniti, as the brand and its first car, the grille-less Q45 luxury sedan, was first displayed 30 years ago at the 1989 NAIAS. "Thirty years ago, as a 24-year-old designer in the audience, I saw the birth of Infiniti in person and am proud to be part of the journey of creating iconic luxury automobiles," said Nissan's senior vice president for global design, Alfonso Albaisa. Meanwhile, Infiniti's November 2018 sales were the best November numbers in the brand's history. "The concept car we will show in Detroit is the beginning of a new era for Infiniti, and an illustration of where we want to go with the brand," said Karim Habib, Infiniti's design director. Earlier, Albaisa echoed his statements, telling us how electrification can inspire the brand's future design thanks to the battery packs' size development, saying: "It's getting denser, it's getting thinner, the cars are able to get a little bit bigger, more space, we can really do much more." Related Video: