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2024 Infiniti Q50 prices up $475, start at $44,200

The Infiniti Q50, like some small geologic formation, carries its graceful, aged sculpture into 2024 fearless and unchanged. Whereas in 2023 Infiniti added a new interior color, included Infiniti Premium Care, and increased prices, 2024 only sees higher prices. MSRPs are up $400 and the destination charge rises $75 to $1,150, for an additional premium of $475. Starting sums including destination are:  Q50 Luxe: $44,200  Q50 Sensory: $49,900 Q50 Red Sport 400: $58,050  Every Q50 is powered by a twin-turbo 3.0-liter V6, the Luxe and Sensory trims making 300 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque, the Red Sport 400 making the eponymous 400 hp and 350 lb-ft. As standard, all send their power to the rear axle through a seven-speed automatic. Sending power to the front axle adds $2,000.  The Black Opal Edition Package that we expected to be of limited supply returns for 2024. Its black opal iridescent paint job shifts from black to blue to green to purple depending on the light and viewing angle. The paint is matched with satin black badging and an exposed carbon fiber trunk spoiler, adding $2,200 to the price of the sole trim it's available on, the Q50 Red Sport 400. The package traces its lineage to the legendary iridescent Midnight Purple II, a color introduced on the R34 Nissan Skyline GT-R in 1998, and counts recent reboots elsewhere in the Nissan range with the 2014 GT-R with a Midnight Opal paint job and the 2022 GT-R T-spec in Midnight Purple.    It's understandable that a brand built on premium and sporty offerings doesn't want to give up its last unabashedly sporty offering, but this seems like a natural time to again wonder what is the endgame for the Q50, the final car in Infiniti's U.S. lineup. Automotive News reported over the summer that Infiniti showed its U.S. dealers a fastback sedan called a "striking evolution" of the Q70 boasting a longer wheelbase and shorter overhangs, a full-width headlight and taillight, and a "sporty and Porsche-like" rear end. That's anticipated in 2026. Maybe then the Q50 will be allowed to go off somewhere and rest.

2015 Italian Grand Prix is smoke, mirrors, stalls, and stewards

For the first day-and-a-half of the Italian Formula One Grand Prix weekend, everything went to blueprint: Mercedes in front, Ferrari lurking, everyone else scrambling in their usual orders behind. Then qualifying came, and someone stirred the pot. About the only thing we expected was for Lewis Hamilton to put his Mercedes-AMG Petronas on pole position, the 11th time he's done it this year. He did it with a brand-new specification engine, one that represents not only an evolution in components, but also in power unit philosophy. Kimi Raikkonen lines up in second. It's been a long time since we read those words; the Iceman hasn't been on the first row since the 2013 Chinese Grand Prix, when he put his Lotus second on the grid behind... Lewis Hamilton. Raikkonen lined up just ahead of a Ferrari at that China race, then driven by Fernando Alonso. In Italy this weekend, he lined up in front of the Ferrari driven by his teammate, Sebastian Vettel, who qualified third. Both Ferraris benefitted from an upgraded power unit, ending a front-row drought for the scuderia that goes all the way back to Monaco in 2009 Germany in 2012. Nico Rosberg has a lot of work to do from fourth in the second Mercedes-AMG Petronas. Mercedes discovered a problem with Rosberg's engine but couldn't figure out the cause, so he reverted to the previous-spec engine he used in Belgium, one that's six races old. The lack of power hurt. Williams teammates Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas took fifth and sixth, with Massa seemingly given a team-ordered helping hand. Williams told Bottas to tow Massa down the front straight, giving Massa a blistering time in the first sector. Then Bottas did it again, ensuring he would line up behind Massa. The first Sahara Force India of Sergio Perez nabbed seventh, three places ahead of teammate Nico Hulkenberg in tenth, with Romain Grosjean in the Lotus behind Perez in eighth. Marcus Ericsson in the Sauber qualified ninth, but some clumsy driving saw him impede Hulkenberg twice. The stewards penalized Ericsson with a three-place grid penalty and two points on his superlicense, so Hulkenberg inherited ninth and Pastor Maldonado in the second Lotus inherited tenth. We hardly saw Hamilton during the race, because he led from the start, worked up a larger gap to second place on every lap, and didn't give up the lead for the whole event.

NHTSA opens investigation into Nissan's handling of airbag recall

In March of 2014, Nissan recalled eight models among its Nissan and Infiniti brands, totaling more than one million vehicles, over faulty occupant classification system software controlling the passenger airbag. The company discovered a variety of factors that would interfere with the system's ability to detect an adult passenger in the shotgun seat, resulting in an illuminated warning on on the dashboard and the passenger airbag not deploying in an accident. Yet 124 complaints submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration since the recall allege that the dealer-installed fix hasn't actually fixed the problem; some consumers say the problem persists after multiple trips to the dealer. The Detroit News reports that NHTSA is opening an investigation into the matter to determine whether a new recall is needed. The occupant sensor has been a bugbear for Nissan over the past couple of years; a much smaller recall for the issue in 2013 covered five of the eight vehicles that were recalled in 2014, and that earlier recall also continued to generate complaints after the issue had supposedly been fixed. At the same time, the company learned that in two instances there was another twist, where the dashboard warning wasn't illuminated but the passenger airbag still didn't go off in an accident. Nissan isn't alone, though, with airbag recalls on a steep upswing across the industry even before the Takata debacle.