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Infiniti Prototype 9 is a wonderfully beautiful EV grand prix car

Few automobiles are as elegantly beautiful as the open-wheel grand prix cars of the 1940s, '50s and '60s. The simple, slender shapes of these cars bear no extravagant flourishes or adornments. The purposeful design is what gave these cars their beauty, and it's these classic machines that inspired the new Infiniti Prototype 9. Teased earlier this week, this concept blends old and new, with classic lines hiding a modern all-electric powertrain. The Prototype 9 will make its full debut next week at the 2017 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. Infiniti says the car was built around a simple idea: what would a 1940s Infiniti grand prix car look like? While the silver paint may be more German than Japanese, the design could easily be mistaken for an actual '40s grand prix car. Only the Infiniti-styled grille gives it away. Everything about it, from the thin bias-ply tires wrapped over center-locking wire wheels to the bulging screws around the driver's seat, is pitch perfect. Underneath that achingly long hood rests a prototype electric motor and battery from Nissan's Advanced Powertrain Department. The combo sends 148 horsepower and 236 pound-feet of torque straight to the rear wheels. That's good enough to send the svelte 1,962 lb car to 62 mph in just 5.5 seconds. Top speed is right at 106 mph. While speed may die off towards the top end, all that torque and a 43/57 front to rear weight distribution should make the Prototype 9 a riot on a small, tight circuit. There's only enough juice in the battery for about 20 minutes of flat-out racing. The handmade steel body rests on a steel ladder-frame chassis. The front suspension uses a leading-arm rigid axle with transverse leaf spring while the rear uses a De Dion axle, also with a transverse leaf spring. The Prototype 9 also uses old-school hydraulic rotary type dampers. There's no power steering and no brake booster for the four-wheel disc brakes. The car was designed and built by a number of different departments within Infiniti and Nissan. A simple sketch expanded as more and more designers and engineers wanted to have a hand in the project. The steel body panels were all shaped and hammered by hand. The bare cockpit is only adorned with a thin seat, three gauges, a few switches, a gear selector and the steering wheel. The gauges are set into a fixed aluminum hub in the center of the steering wheel.

2014 Infiniti QX60 Hybrid gives us d'ej`a vu

If we were totally lazy, we'd just copy and paste the text from our Nissan Pathfinder Hybrid post into this one. Why? Because the Infiniti JX35 QX60 Hybrid you see here is pretty much identical to its Nissan-badged sibling. At least, in terms of mechanicals.
But we aren't lazy... completely. Instead, let's have a quick recap. Engine: Supercharged 2.5-liter mill mated to a 15-kilowatt electric motor. Fuel economy: 26 miles per gallon combined. Interior changes: None - the battery does not compromise any sort of cargo or passenger volume. Price: Roughly $3,000 more than the standard QX60.
If you feel like the nitty-gritty details are necessary, have a look at the official press release below for all the goods. Otherwise, peruse the images in our high-res image gallery and tell us if you can spot the difference between the Q-by-60 and its Nissan twin.

2018 Infiniti QX80 reveals fresh face in Dubai

Infiniti has finally revealed its refresh for the Infiniti QX80 at the Dubai auto show, and it's amazingly mild. Not that we were expecting a particularly wild redesign, since even the QX80 Monograph concept that previewed the SUV still looked similar to the existing vehicle, but this is still a pretty low-key update. The main changes are in the front fascia, which was teased not long ago. It features headlights that sit higher up and inline with the top of the grille. The lights are more slender and swept back, too. The tops of the fenders sit higher as well, providing a more squared-off look, and the side fender vents have a new design. Beyond the nose job, there are hardly any other changes. The taillights are new, and the chrome finish over the license plate extends into them. The rest of the roof, doors, windows, basically all the stuff in the middle of the SUV look pretty much identical to the old QX80. Underneath the skin is more of the same. The interior is the same with the exception of some new materials and colors. Apparently the shift knob is new, too. The powertrain is a carryover as well, featuring the same 400-horsepower 5.6-liter V8 with either two- or four-wheel drive. The QX80 has one other somewhat noteworthy change, and that's the price. Base price on the two- and four-wheel-drive QX80 models increases $900 over last year's to $65,745 and $68,845 respectively. The new QX80 goes on sale by the end of this year. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2018 Infiniti QX80 View 27 Photos Image Credit: Infiniti Infiniti SUV Luxury dubai motor show infiniti qx80