Infiniti to move HQ to Hong Kong

Infiniti to move HQ to Hong Kong

Infiniti – the luxury arm of Nissan – is to move its global headquarters to Hong Kong to achieve separation from Nissan and exploit the Chinese market.

Already a sizeable marque in North America, Infiniti are pushing hard to be recognised in Europe as a credible alternative to Lexus, and are looking to make hay in South East Asia and China as those economies become the world’s financial powerhouses.

So the news that Infiniti are to up sticks and move their global headquarters to Hong Kong makes sense on several fronts.

Principally, moving Infiniti’s global HQ to Honkers puts fresh air between it and its parent – Nissan. In a world obsessed by brand identity, making it easier to perceive Infiniti as a brand in its own right – rather than a titivated Nissan – is a sensible move.

But so is moving to a region of the world that is fast become the most important economic force on the planet. The rise and rise of China’s wealth – and the South East Asia region as a whole – means Infiniti will be based at the epicentre of the most important markets for its cars in the coming years.

The new HQ will have a staff of around 100, and will handle global marketing, corporate functions, Infiniti communications and sales for Infiniti worldwide.

But the oily, less glamorous stuff, will still happen back in Japan. Engineering and manufacturing for Infiniti will still centre on Japan. although for how long that will happen with the strength of the Yen is anyone’s guess. Ours is that Infiniti will end up building the bulk of its cars in China.

Nissan have plans to boost Infiniti’s sales to 500,000 a year within five years, and relocating to Hong Kong and putting some fresh air between Infiniti and Nissan is a sensible move.

But Nissan will need to be looking over its shoulder if its going to achieve its targets, and take great care to keep ahead of the new kid on the block that will the Hyundai version of Infiniti – Genesis.