These Are the Cars in Infiniti’s Showroom of the Future

Five all-new models are coming from Nissan’s luxury brand.

Infiniti will get a new vehicle every year as it grows its portfolio from two models to a showroom of seven nameplates in a bid to increase the breadth, sales, profitability, and importance of a luxury brand that has languished for years due to being deprived of resources.

Today Infiniti sells the QX60 and the larger QX80, having ended production of the QX50 and QX55. But under new Nissan Motor Corporation president and CEO Ivan Espinosa, Infiniti is seen as key to the overall global success of the automaker.

Infiniti will grow, starting with the new 2027 QX65 two-row coupe-SUV hitting the market now. It augments the three-row QX60 that has been the brand’s top seller. The new two-row QX65 goes after a more design- and image-driven customer, Nissan Americas chief planning officer Ponz Pandikuthira says.

Sales of “coupe-like” SUVs are waning because their raked rooflines usually compromise room in the rear, but the QX65 has class-leading trunk space behind the rear seat. That’s because, being based on the QX60, it has the space of a three-row but no third-row seating. And if you were wondering why the three-row SUV is named the QX60 and the smaller two-row is named QX65, it’s because customers pay a premium for more stylish versions—and a bigger number means more premium.

Infiniti Q50 Based on Nissan Skyline

Next year Infiniti will add the Q50 sport sedan based on the next-generation Nissan Skyline. And yes, officials have finally confirmed it will be badged as the Infiniti Q50 when it goes on sale in North America, continuing the heritage of the Infiniti G35 and G37. It is like a Q50S coupe, but with the practicality of two extra doors, we were told by Pandikuthira and chairman and CEO of Nissan Americas Christian Meunier.

Still to come is a version of the Rogue compact crossover for Infiniti, which arrives as the next QX50, tapping the e-power hybrid system that uses the gas engine as a generator for the motors that power the vehicle. But it will be tuned to feel like an Infiniti.

Two Rugged SUVs Coming

Finally, the luxury brand will also get two models spun from the new body-on-frame (BOF) architecture that will yield vehicles for both Nissan and Infiniti. The first model will be the boxy and rugged Nissan Xterra due in 2027, followed by the next-generation Nissan Frontier, a three-row SUV similar in size to the Pathfinder, and a midsize SUV.

Infiniti can expect two- and three-row SUVs from the BOF platform. These will be similar to the QX65 and QX60 in size but feature different, more rugged styling and target unique capabilities and customers. The unibody SUVs are more family-oriented, the BOF models more robust, premium, and aspirational. There might be some overlap but Pandikuthira thinks the body-on-frame models will have more longevity. Ultimately, he says, the market will decide how long each of the four will exist.

As for names, the product planner freely admits the alphanumeric names for Infiniti models are a mess, while Nissan has great nameplates that stand out. For example, “Should the two-row or three-row body-on-frame SUV be ‘QX70?’,” he muses. Names like FX are gone, which he called a tragedy. He admits “we have some homework to do” between now and when the BOF models come out.

Dealers Expect More

By the end of the decade, there should be at least seven Infiniti models stocked in the average showroom, Pandikuthira tells MotorTrend. “Our dealers expect that of us.”

A healthy sales target is 130,000 to 150,000 units a year in the U.S., which accounts for 80 percent of Infiniti’s total global sales. The brand is also sold in Canada, while some go to Mexico and the Middle East. The plan is to reignite the brand in the U.S. and Canada before considering expansion to other markets, Meunier says. “We are serious about the product, we are serious about the execution, we are serious about the consistency. Once we start growing organically, we might start expanding more.”

Past Mistakes

Nissan knows when it comes to Infiniti, it has made a lot of mistakes. Meunier says he lived through them. Among them: The decision to make a dedicated architecture for Infiniti, a brand that was only selling 100,000 cars (it is selling half that many today). “You make a dedicated platform with the hopes in two years of coming to 150,000,” Meunier says. “It was a wild bet.” It did not pay off. When volumes are not where they need to be, the inclination is to invest in spinning off more products, but there was hesitation because the company was not in good financial shape. “Already the portfolio was too big. Then we tried to make unique things. It didn’t work.”

Meunier says what they learned is there is value in the Infiniti name, reputation, and the average price customers were paying in the U.S. To make the brand sustainable, leadership decided the brand needs a minimum of five vehicles and the ability to leverage its assets to keep them sustainable. “Today the two cars that are working well are the QX80 and QX60. And now the 65. The lesson is simple; we don’t need a dedicated architecture. We just need to differentiate the cars, make them incredible enough, with the right level of technology, the right visual differentiation, a better experience overall. This is what we decided to do.”

The second mistake was lack of continuity and consistency in product and investment. “The reason is there were other priorities,” Meunier says of the company as a whole. “We started to spread the portfolio too thin with the dream of reaching 8 million cars [annually across the entire Nissan ecosystem] one day. This was a casualty of that goal. To do 8 million you need 75 or 80 models. So, we started to invest in all these cars, and the volume was not coming back, and we had to start cutting and unfortunately one of the casualties was Infiniti.”