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Recharge Wrap-up: Infiniti considers EV for China, NextEV hires former Tesla, Apple engineer

NextEV has hired Tesla Autopilot and Apple veteran Jamie Carlson as Senior Director of Advanced Technologies. The seasoned autonomous driving engineer joins fellow former Autopilot engineer Kurt Thywissen, who is now NextEV Senior Director of Human-Machine Interaction. NextEV, which is working on an all-electric supercar before focusing on mainstream EVs, recently obtained a self-driving car permit from California and opened its North American headquarters in San Jose. Read more at Electrek. Infiniti is considering launching its first EV in China. "When I think about EV, we design it for China definitely, even as the first market to launch," says Infiniti President Roland Krueger. "We are discussing this internally constantly what is the right timing for Infiniti to have such vehicles." Infiniti has held back on launching an EV, focusing instead on hybrids, but says it could be "very fast" in deploying an EV once it decides to do so. Having Nissan and Renault backing Infiniti, the luxury brand is confident about its access to proven EV technology. Read more at Automotive News Europe. Thrifty car rental has added a Tesla Model S to its fleet in Canberra, Australia. Available at the Canberra Airport, it's the first luxury EV offered for rent from a mainstream rental company in Australia. Australia's capital offers a small registration discount and no stamp duty for EVs, making it a cheaper and more practical place to locate the country's first rental Tesla. Thrifty's parent company, NRMA, is calling on Australia's other states and territories to remove financial and regulatory barriers to EV technology. Read more at The Motor Report.

2016 Infiniti QX50 is new and improved, kind of [w/video]

The Infiniti QX50 is, to be frank, ancient. It hit the market way back in 2007, and has labored on ever since. Through December of last year, the company only moved 2,727 QX50s. The year before, there were only 2,164 sales, and 3,495 in 2012. What do all three years have in common? The QX50 was Infiniti's slowest seller in each of them. Here's hoping, then, that this latest update will boost the 2+2 crossover's appeal. Being shown today at the 2015 New York International Auto Show, Infiniti has made a number of updates to its smallest crossover, with the most notable being a 3.2-inch stretch in its wheelbase and a 4.5-inch increase in its overall length. That makes for an enormous 4.3-inch increase in the legroom of the formerly cramped second row. Infiniti also made slight increases to the overall ride height, of 0.4 inches in for rear-drivers and 0.8 inches for all-wheel-drive variants. Outside of the dimensional changes, Infiniti also beefed up the former EX37's exterior, with new front and rear bumpers that boast SUV-like scuff plating, as well as LED accents in the new headlights and a new grille that is more in keeping with the brand's current design language. LED taillights sit out back as standard, while Infiniti will happily sell consumers an optional xenon headlight package. Infiniti may have updated the exterior, but the cabin looks largely unchanged, aside from the extra space in the second row. It looks like a complete carryover in terms of features, trim and general layout. Also unchanged is the QX50's 3.7-liter V6 engine. Output remains fixed at 325 ponies and 267 pound-feet of torque. Regardless of whether power goes to the rear or to all four wheels, a seven-speed automatic is in charge of managing the power. We'll have more on the freshened QX50, including live images, coming soon from the floor of the 2015 New York Auto Show.

Weekly Recap: Matthew McConaughey's star shines brightly for Lincoln

The commercials were a little strange at first, but the ensuing spoofs were hilarious. And all jokes aside, Matthew McConaughey has made a difference for Lincoln. Advertisements starring the Oscar winner launched in September, and the results have been impressive. The number of customers clicking on Lincoln.com to check out the MKC – the crossover McConaughey pitched – has tripled since the ads began airing, a spokesman told Autoblog. They also generated 4.4 million views on YouTube and spawned parodies by Ellen DeGeneres, Conan O'Brien, South Park and Jim Carrey on Saturday Night Live, which racked up another 15 million views. Most importantly, Lincoln's sales have increased 15 percent through November, helped significantly by the strong launch of the MKC. Without the addition of the MKC, Lincoln's sales would have been essentially flat last year. The MKC has received solid reviews from consumers and the press, though it has had several recalls. "The overwhelming response to the MKC campaign sparked truly great awareness for Lincoln," Andrew Frick, Lincoln group marketing manager, said in a statement. Now Lincoln has launched another round of spots, which kicked off New Year's Day during college football bowl games. This time, McConaughey is hawking the MKZ sedan and its hybrid sibling. The spots, called Diner and Balance, use the same artistic formula as the earlier ads, with McConaughey intoning seriously about the cars in dramatic settings. They were shot over two days in Los Angeles and were directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, a Danish filmmaker who directed the 2011 move, Drive. The ads continue Lincoln's multiyear deal with McConaughey, who has said he's been long been interested in the brand. He starred in the 2011 thriller, The Lincoln Lawyer, as a defense attorney who worked out of a Town Car, though that was before his deal with Lincoln. In one of the earlier ads, McConaughey claims: "I've been driving a Lincoln since long before anybody paid me to drive one. I didn't do it to be cool. I didn't to it to make a statement. I just liked it." That sentiment appears to have worked for the MKC's launch, and with this new advertising blitz, Lincoln hopes it carries over to the MKZ. Other News And Notes Infiniti Q30 spied in winter testing Infiniti is continuing development work on the Q30 small crossover, and we've recently captured it during winter testing.