2004 Infiniti I35 Base Sedan 4-door 3.5l on 2040-cars

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Infiniti brand will finally make its debut in Japan, but not the name

Nissan left the automotive media scratching its collective head when it announced that its Infiniti luxury brand would be renaming all of its vehicles, with cars wearing the Q designation and CUVs/SUVs wearing the QX badge. So the G Sedan became the Q50, and the G Coupe became the Q60. The QX56, meanwhile, became the QX80, and the FX crossover became the QX70. It is still thoroughly confusing nearly a year later.
Not content to confuse its US customers alone, Nissan will be fiddling with the name of one of its most revered Japanese-market models - the Skyline. Rebadged for the US as the Q50, and before that as the G Sedan/Coupe, the new Skyline will wear an Infiniti badge. What makes this truly confusing, though, is that the car won't be called the Infiniti Skyline, despite its badging. It won't even be called the Nissan Skyline, anymore. It's now just the Skyline. Apparently, Nissan thinks it can capitalize on the Skyline's link to the Japanese royal family (the Skyline was originally a product of Prince Motors, which provided vehicles for the Emperor and his family), by ditching any brand names and referring to it as its own model, according to Automotive News.
Now, confusion aside, there are things about Infiniti badging in Japan that make sense. Badging all the Nissans that eventually become Infinitis as Infinitis in the first place goes a long way to make the brand seem separate and distinct from its parent company. Speaking to AN, Infiniti's executive vice president of global product planning, Andy Palmer, puts it this way, "We have to treat Infiniti, if you will, in the same [way] that Volkswagen treats Audi. It's not a Nissan-plus. Infiniti has to stand head-to-head with any of those German competitors."

Infiniti Q60 Coupe spied in production guise

Here is the best news we've had all day: the production Infiniti Q60 Coupe will bear an uncanny resemblance to the concept car that previewed it earlier this year in Detroit. We know this thanks to our very first round of spy photos of the heavily camouflaged production car. Although there are only three images to draw from, we've got a clear picture of the concept-inspired lines of this new two-door. In particular, the front and rear fascias look to draw a lot of inspiration from the concept. In front, the headlights look to be similar in shape, while the double-arch grille looks largely unchanged from what the company previewed. Perhaps the biggest change up front is around the fog lights, which look to sit in far more conventional housings. Also gone is the Q60 Concept's Formula One-inspired chin, possibly in part due to the company's (and parent Renault's) perilous position as a title sponsor for the Red Bull Racing team. The taillights reinforce the concept car inspiration, retaining a similarly svelte shape and tying in with a small trunk lid. Also like the Q60 Concept, our spies report that a twin-turbocharged, 3.0-liter V6 will be on offer, likely as the range-topping engine. We'd expect the volume motor to be the Mercedes-Benz 2.0-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder found in the likes of the new Q30, as well as the CLA-, GLA-, and A-Class. It's also certainly possible that Infiniti's long-serving 3.7-liter V6 will be available in some form. Whatever engines arrive, we can expect six-speed manual and seven-speed automatic transmissions to be the sole options. Have a look at the photos up at the top of the page. And for comparison's sake, we've included the official Q60 Concept gallery down below just under the video showing a 360-degree view. Take a peek at both and let us know what you think of Infiniti's work.

Nissan recalls 226k vehicles over airbag inflators

Nissan and Infiniti are the latest automakers to issue recalls involving faulty airbag inflators from Takata. The Japanese automakers have announced campaigns covering about 226,326 units from seven models built in the early 2000s because they contain the bad part in the passenger-side, front airbag. The affected vehicles include the 2002-2004 Nissan Sentra, 2002-2003 Pathfinder and 2002-2003 Maxima, and it also covers the 2002-2003 Infiniti QX4, 2002-2003 I35, 2003 FX45 and 2003 FX35.
Like the other vehicles with the faulty inflators, it's possible for the part to rupture during airbag deployment and spray metal shrapnel at occupants. Nissan and Infiniti have even included vehicles with replacement airbags in this campaign because those parts also could have been defective. Both companies were also part of the earlier regional campaign to fix cars in high-humidity climates where the problem has been found to be the worst.
As is the usual response, Nissan and Infiniti will notify owners of the affected vehicles and will make the repair at no charge. According to the filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, these fixes will commence around August 11. Scroll down to read the report from NHTSA, or read the full defect notice as a PDF, here.