Infiniti launched IPL in 2010 with the hopes that the performance division would eventually rival brands like BMW’s M and Mercedes-Benz’s AMG, but those plans never fully materialized. The IPL treatment was offered on Infiniti’s G coupe and sedan, but the performance tweaks were never enough to really stir the soul.
It appears as though Infiniti is ready to give up on the short-lived IPL sub-brand as Edmunds is reporting that all future performance Infiniti models will be sold under the Eau Rouge banner. Infiniti introduced the world to the Eau Rogue name at the 2014 Detroit auto show with a high-performance version of its Q50 sedan.
Infiniti hasn’t announced when the first Eau Rouge vehicle might launch and Michael Bartsch, vice president of Infiniti Americas, admits that the Japanese automaker doesn’t quite know what to do with IPL brand. Although pure speculation at this point, it’s possible Infiniti could position Eau Rogue against M- and AMG-tuned vehicles while IPL competes against brands like Audi’s S-line.
The Eau Rogue concept features an aggressive body kit and a twin-turbocharged engine with at least 500 horsepower on tap, and we’d expected to see similar hardware on the road-going version of the performance sedan.
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