2007 Infiniti M35x Sedan Navigation on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2015 Russian Grand Prix was full of crashes and DNFs

Mercedes-AMG Petronas non-executive chairman Niki Lauda said of Lewis Hamilton's race-day domination this year, "The guy is driving like a god." Qualifying is another story, though – teammate Nico Rosberg taking pole proved that sometimes deities have to settle for second on the grid. Williams driver Valtteri Bottas surprised himself and his team with third place, half a second behind Hamilton but 0.05 sec ahead of the first Ferrari driven by Sebastian Vettel, while a mistake on Kimi Raikkonen's final flying lap left him in fifth, 0.4 sec behind Vettel. The Sahara Force India team had a good showing, with Nico Hulkenberg qualifying sixth just ahead of teammate Sergio Perez in seventh. It's the first time they've had both drivers in the top ten on the grid since the 2014 British Grand Prix. Romain Grosjean is leaving the stormy waters of Lotus at the end of the year for the unknown waters of Haas F1, but he made the shoestring operation look really good before Renault takes over by taking eighth place on the grid. Max Verstappen qualified well again with ninth in the Toro Rosso, ahead of the first Infiniti Red Bull Racing of Daniel Ricciardo in tenth. Red Bull driver Daniil Kvyat lined up eleventh for his home grand prix, certainly a disappointment after locking up fifth place on the grid last year in a Toro Rosso. When Pirelli brought soft and supersoft compounds to Sochi, the company said it hoped this year's race would be better than last year's. We're sure this first-lap mishap isn't what they meant. Rosberg and Hamilton dragged it down to Turn 1, with Rosberg getting the inside line. Hamilton had to go wide at Turn 2 as Rosberg fought to hold position, but they left a mess in their wake: Hulkenberg spun going into Turn 2 and stopped in the middle of the track, and Marcus Ericsson in the Sauber – who'd started 16th – collided with him. Both cars were out of the race immediately, and the Safety Car came in. The Safety Car returned to the pits on Lap 3 Rosberg led the field, but just two laps later the German complained of a sticking throttle pedal. Two laps later he had to retire, unable to drive the car properly. That put Hamilton at the front, and we've seen that race a bunch of times before. He built a double-digit lead and never lost it.

2017 Infiniti Q60 glitters in gold for the Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog

It's that time of year again. The air is getting cooler, the leaves are changing colors, and Neiman Marcus has selected this year's car for its annual Christmas Book. The limited-edition ride is a 2017 Infiniti Q60 based on the 400-horsepower Red Sport 400 model. What really sets this Neiman Marcus version apart from the average Red Sport is the striking paint job. Called Solar Mica, the paint looks a bit like a glossy gold leaf. Combined with the Gallery White leather interior with Silver Optic Fiber trim, this is an Infiniti that would be perfect for Yukon Cornelius. In addition to the color scheme, the car comes with an ivory leather weekend bag, an indoor car cover with Neiman Marcus branding, a plaque with the VIN number, and a certificate of authenticity. Oh, it also comes with a $63,000-price tag, which is a about $10,000 more than an entry level Red Sport 400 with rear-wheel drive. Neiman Marcus will only offer 50 examples of this Infiniti, and it goes on sale at noon on November 2. Interested buyers can call to reserve one at (844) 367-6971. If you're serious about buying, you'll probably want that number on speed dial. The special edition Neiman Marcus cars tend to sell out fast. In 2009, 50 Jaguar XJLs sold out in just over four hours. In 2012, 12 McLaren MP4-12C Spiders flew out the door in two hours, and in 2006, 50 BMW M6 convertibles vanished in a stunning 92 seconds. Related Video:

800k car names trademarked globally, suddenly alphanumerics seem reasonable

What's in a name? This cliched phrase probably gets tossed out at every marketing meeting that happens when a new car gets its nomenclature. We know the answer, though: everything. The name of a car has all the potential to make or break it with fickle customers that are more conscious than ever about what their purchases say about them.
That's giving headaches to marketing folks across the automotive industry. "It's tough. In 1985 there were about 75,000 names trademarked in the automotive space. Today there are 800,000," Chevrolet's head of marketing, Russ Clark, told Automotive News. Infiniti's president, Johan de Nysschen, echoed Clark's sentiment, saying, "The truth of the matter is, across the world, there is hardly a name or a letter that hasn't already been claimed by one car manufacturer or another. You can go through the alphabet - A, B, C and so forth - and you will quickly see that almost all available letters are taken."
What has that left automakers to do? Get creative. In the case of Infiniti, it made the controversial move to bring all of its cars' names into a new scheme, classifying them as Q#0 for cars and QX#0 for SUVs and crossovers. So the Infiniti G, which was available as the G25 and G37, is now the Q50. The FX37 and FX50 are now the QX70.