After a stint meandering in the product wilderness, Infiniti is launching an offensive, featuring nine new or redesigned vehicles. We drove the QX30 late last year, and at the Detroit auto show, Infiniti officially unveiled the new Q60. The striking coupe?its design a collection of curves bisected by a strong, straight character line?suggests a new direction for the brand, one that?s been hinted at since Johan de Nysschen was at the helm of the Hong Kong?based Nissan division. We sat down with Alfonso Albaisa, Infiniti?s executive design director, to chat a bit about his inspiration and what we?re likely to see next from the brand.

How did the decision to push the design language of the company come about" Was it a burst" Or was it something that had been slowly building over time" When I was brought in, there were certain things building. Shiro [Nakamura, Infiniti's chief creative officer] didn?t want radical change so much as he wanted a deepening; to make it obvious what we wanted to do. Actually, one of the most important things was engineering. When I came in about four years ago, engineering was going through a phase where they wanted to identify things that they could do which would be best in class. The body stamping, the sense of carrozzeria, was one of the things they put up at the very top. Other brands are doing sharpness; it?s nothing new. We went a more romantic route?it?s not just the sharpness, it?s the fluidity of metal. This was a source o...