The new Infiniti DX is to be built in Europe by Magna Steyr
It looks like the plans by Infiniti to build a production model of the Etherea Concept from this year’s Geneva Motor Show are pushing ahead, with reports that Magna Steyr – the Canadian Austrian specialist car builders – tasked with putting together what we expect to be the Infiniti DX.
The DX is Infiniti’s big gun in its aim to take 10 per cent of global luxury car sales by 2016. It is based on Mercedes’ MFA platform, which underpins the new B-Class and the soon to arrive new A-Class, and is expected to get a range of four and six pot Mercedes engines.
Infiniti are looking at volumes of up to 60,000 DX cars a year, aimed squarely at the BMW 1 Series and Audi A3 which, if they achieve that, will mean Infiniti heading towards their target of producing 500,000 cars a year by 2017.
The beauty of using Magna Steyr to build the DX for Infiniti is that they will effectively acquire a European production centre for Infiniti cars, negating the huge burden that the strength of the Yen imposes on Japanese car makers. Using a third party for production will also lessen the impact in Japan of a premium brand exporting manufacture to Europe.
Infiniti will also save massively on development costs, with Magna Steyr production facilities and major components – platform and engines – shipped in from Mercedes. For Mercedes, they get some decent income and the cost benefits which come from greater volume production of platforms and engines.
And the Infiniti DX could actually hit the target for Infiniti in Europe.
Source: Automotive News Europe
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