2002 Infiniti Qx4 Base Sport Utility 4-door 3.5l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Poor headlights cause 40 cars to miss IIHS Top Safety Pick rating

Over the past few months, we've noticed a number of cars and SUVs that have come incredibly close to earning one of the IIHS's highest accolades, the Top Safety Pick rating. They have great crash test scores and solid automatic emergency braking and forward collision warning systems. What trips them up is headlights. That got us wondering, how many vehicles are there that are coming up short because they don't have headlights that meet the organization's criteria for an "Acceptable" or "Good" rating. This is a revision made after 2017, a year in which headlights weren't factored in for this specific award. This is also why why some vehicles, such as the Ford F-150, might have had the award last year, but have lost it for this year. We reached out to someone at IIHS to find out. He responded with the following car models. Depending on how you count, a whopping 40 models crash well enough to receive the rating, but don't get it because their headlights are either "Poor" or "Marginal." We say depending on how you count because the IIHS actual counts truck body styles differently, and the Infiniti Q70 is a special case. Apparently the version of the Q70 that has good headlights doesn't have adequate forward collision prevention technology. And the one that has good forward collision tech doesn't have good enough headlights. We've provided the entire list of vehicles below in alphabetical order. Interestingly, it seems the Volkswagen Group is having the most difficulty providing good headlights with its otherwise safe cars. It had the most models on the list at 9 split between Audi and Volkswagen. GM is next in line with 7 models. It is worth noting again that though these vehicles have subpar headlights and don't quite earn Top Safety Pick awards, that doesn't mean they're unsafe. They all score well enough in crash testing and forward collision prevention that they would get the coveted award if the lights were better.

Cadillac snags de Nysschen from Infiniti, names him new president

Johan de Nysschen, the (now former) president of Infiniti, has officially jumped ship. The 54-year-old, who also spent time as the chief executive for Audi USA, has taken the position of president at Cadillac, following a two-year stint at the Nissan-owned luxury brand. In his new role, the 54-year-old will be responsible "for all aspects of Cadillac globally," according to a statement from General Motors.
"Johan brings to our company vast experience in the development and proper execution of luxury automotive brands," said GM President Dan Ammann, de Nysschen's new boss. "With over 20 years in this exact space, especially in the development of the Audi brand, his track record proves he is the perfect executive to lead Cadillac for the long term."
"I have for some time now been impressed by how the new General Motors has been transformed into a formidable force in the industry," de Nysschen said in a statement. "The combination of strong corporate leadership and exceptional engineering resources presents the perfect combination to restore Cadillac to its place among global premium brands."

Infiniti boss De Nysschen confirms next-gen Q60 Coupe, ponders high-performance variants

We've known since mid-December that Infiniti's new global model naming convention would turn the current-generation G37 Coupe into the Q60 Coupe starting next year, but we haven't been clear on whether the model-range-formerly-known-as-G would get a successor, especially as its volume has traditionally been a lot lower than its sedan counterpart.
Thankfully, Infiniti president Johann De Nysschen (above) has stepped up to confirm that the newly revealed Q50 sedan will receive a two-door counterpart, though perhaps not as quickly as some would like. According to an interview with Australia's CarAdvice.com, De Nysschen says "the coupe we can probably expect two-and-a-half to three years down the road." That news also suggests that if there's an eventual convertible version, that it's a long way off, too. Why so long? Infiniti has "a lot of priorities" - priorities that undoubtedly include an already-confirmed front-wheel-drive small hatchback/crossover.
The report also indicates that Infiniti has some aspirations for stretching its new Q50/Q60 range in a higher-performance direction to take on competitors like BMW and Audi, the latter being De Nysschen's former employer. There's far from a firm timetable offered, of course, with De Nysschen saying "someday in the future we will be able to offer more high performance versions [of Q50] than we have today... the dynamic capabilities of this platform are very significant. It can handle far higher power than the engines we are using at launch."