What is it" Hatchback hope for brand?s European growth.
Key features: Distinctive style, well-finished interior, refined cruising.
Our View: Infiniti itself would likely admit that its European growth has not been as rapid as the brand would have liked. Nissan?s luxury arm, so successful in America, has discovered like Lexus before it that European audiences are somewhat more conservative in adopting new names ? particularly those who present themselves as upmarket cousins to known volume manufacturers.
The Q30 is the car that carries Infiniti?s hopes of changing that perception. Unlike the large saloons previously offered by Infiniti, this is a hatchback, launching the brand into the high volume, if highly competitive C segment. It also brings the entry point of owning an Infiniti down from the £28,000 of the Q50 to only £20,500, so it should appeal to a wider range of potential customers. In the UK market in particular the Q30 seeks to gain followers through its ?Britishness?. The car was both designed and developed in the UK, at the Nissan group?s Paddington and Cranfield centres, and it is being built on a brand new line at Nissan?s enormous plant in Sunderland ? the first Infiniti constructed in Britain.
Infiniti won?t say how many Q30s it is hoping to sell in the UK, only that the brand expects to double its British sales year-on-year. So there is no doubting the importance of the Q30 and its crossover-style sister the QX30, coming in June 2016, to the brand?s ...