Infiniti plans to expand its model lineup by 60 percent by the end of the decade, including a new coupe that will compete with the BMW 4-Series.
To help with its ambitious efforts, Nissan’s luxury marque opened a new design center in London this week. According to the automaker, in the past 18 months alone there have already been 10 new Infiniti models penned, including the upcoming Q80 Inspiration debuting at the Paris Motor Show next month.
Speaking at the ribbon-cutting, the company’s chief creative officer and design head Shiro Nakamura explained the new studio: “This is the first step of a global initiative to purify and reinforce the distinctiveness of Infiniti design.” He then revealed studios would soon open in San Diego and Beijing as well.
Infiniti executive design director Alfonso Albaisa added, “with our new generation models, we want… a new romanticism, and London is a great place to find the inspiration for it. London buzzes with youthful excitement.”
Nakamura-san also revealed, as reported by Top Gear, that a BMW 4-Series fighting coupe will appear within a year. Size-wise, it will split the difference between BMW’s 4- and 6-Series. The car would likely replace the Q60 — which is currently a rebadged previous-generation Infiniti G37 Coupe — with design cues taken from the Q80 Inspiration.
What’s more, Nakamura also said that if the Infiniti Q50 Eau Rouge (pictured), the sedan powered by a Nissan GT-R‘s 560-horsepower twin-turbo V6, makes it to production, there could be a coupe Eau Rouge as well.
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