The arrival of two new premium compact cars from Infiniti in the next year – the Q30 and QX30 – will mean a big jump in Infiniti sales in Europe.
Infiniti has been trying for years to get real sales traction in the UK and Europe, but unlike Toyota’s Lexus brand, Infiniti still hasn’t got the blue touch paper on their sale graph to light.
But that’s about to change, according to Infiniti’s European boss Francois Goupil de Bouille, in conversation with Automotive News, with the arrival of the compact Q30 and QX30.
The Infiniti Q30 has already been seen, and the Infiniti QX30 – the crossover/compact SUV version of the Q30 – will debut at the Geneva Motor Show next month.
They are effectively the Infiniti take on the Mercedes A Class and GLA – using not just the Mercedes platform but Mercedes powerplants too – but with a design that is more polarising, less mainstream and, it would seem, aimed at drivers who want a dynamic experience rather than the practicality of a hatch – high-riding or not.
With a capacity of 60,000 cars a year at the production plant in Sunderland, Infiniti clearly hope that by building a car that taps in to the ever-growing market for compact premium models they will finally start to have the same sort of impact on the European market Lexus has managed.
The Infiniti Q30 starts production later in 2015 and will arrive in Infiniti’s UK dealers before the end of the year, followed by the compact SUV QX30 in 2016.
Have your say - leave a comment