I’m pretty sure that most of you know the story that’s behind Inifinit, but we will go through various interesting details about the brand in this article. You may know most of the upcoming facts, but there is also a chance to learn something new. So, let’s start!
Early Days
The idea of creating a luxury brand that can compete with European and American premium cars appeared way back in 1985. Just like Honda and Toyota did with Acura and Lexus, Nissan came up with Infiniti. The story behind the name is rather simple. Nissan wanted to offer a brand that always looks forward in terms of luxury, performances and technology, to new horizons – to Infiniti. Therefore, the Infiniti logo consists of two lines that lead off into an infinite point on the horizon.
All three Japanese luxury brands started around the same time, in the late ‘80s. The first model arrived in late 1989. There were actually two brand-new models – Q45 performance luxury sedan, and the driver-oriented M30 performance luxury coupe.
However, beginnings were a little bit tough. Initially, sales weren’t that good and when we are looking from this perspective, it looks like the main problem was in bad marketing campaign, if there was even such a thing.
The 1990s
Things started to go in a good direction a couple of years later. Infiniti managed to establish a good position on the market. The company introduced a couple of new models during the ‘90s like I30/I35 performance sedan and the QX4 luxury sport utility vehicle. The latter is particularly important for the automotive industry, as it is the first luxury SUV that ever appeared. Despite the title, it didn’t manage to mark some more significant sales numbers and it was completely overshadowed by the legendary Lexus RX.
In those years, the sales were pretty stable, with more than 75.000 units sold every year. However, the late ‘90s and early 2000s weren’t that great for the brand, due to Nissan’s crisis. Things finally became better after 2003, when the legendary G35 was released. In the next several years more than 100.000 units were sold every year.
The 2000s
These years were important because the company introduced a couple of new models that are part of today’s offer as well, of course with significant updates. For example, the QX56 (QX80 these days) came in 2004 and it is still the brand’s flagship model in the lineup. In 2008, we saw the second generation of the FX, which came with a new 5.0-liter V8 engine with 390 horsepower. A year later, the G37 was the first convertible with a metal roof in the company’s portfolio.
The 2000s we also important in terms of expansion. As we all know, the brand was initially established in North America, but things are much different these days. In 1996, this brand came to the Middle East, while sales in Taiwan started a year later. The luxury brand arrived in Korea in 2005, while 2006 was the first time to see it in Russia. In 2007, we saw Inifiniti models on the roads of China and Ukraine, while the European market finally opened up in 2008. These days, Infiniti has more than 230 dealers worldwide.
Present Day
Today, Infiniti sells between 100.000 and 150.000 units every year. The offer includes various models, including crossovers like QX30, QX50, and QX60, a full-size SUV QX80, as well as sedan and coupe models like Q50, Q60 and Q70. The offer is expected to become even bigger in the near future, as there are several new models under development.
