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Infiniti's Detroit concept to be 'very, very, very, very close' to new Q60

Add one more vehicle to the tally of reveals slated for the 2015 Detroit Auto Show. Alfonso Albaisa, executive design director at Infiniti, has confirmed that the marque will be showing a new concept on January 13, the second media day. More importantly, though, this concept won't be another flight of fancy like many of Infiniti's past show cars. Instead, it will foreshadow the arrival of a replacement for one of its oldest vehicles, the Q60, a model better known as the G37 Coupe. "On January 13, you're going to see a concept car that's very, very, very, very close to the next Q60," Albaisa told Motor Trend. There isn't much to go on beyond that, sadly, although we are free to speculate. Infiniti's past would indicate that the Q60 would carry on its role as a two-door version of the Q50 sedan, with styling influenced by its four-door sibling. While that makes sense, there's also an argument to be made for departing from the Q50's styling in favor of a more expressive look that could allow the two-door model to stand out. Whichever avenue Infiniti chooses, we'll have an even better idea in just a few short months.

Nissan recovery to focus on U.S., Japan, China markets

Nissan will pull back from Europe and elsewhere to focus on the United States, China and Japan under a plan that represents a new strategic direction for the embattled carmaker, people with direct knowledge of the plan told Reuters. The "operational performance plan" is due to be announced on May 28 and goes beyond fixing problems from ousted leader Carlos Ghosn's aggressive expansion drive, the people said. The company's struggles predate the current global economic shutdown. Nissan's 2019 sales slumped severely.  Nissan was already planning to implement what was described as a "do or die" plan in January, before the global coronavirus pandemic froze automotive production and sales worldwide.  Pursuit of market share, particularly in the United States, led to steep discounting and a cheapened brand. Under the new, three-year plan — reported here for the first time — Nissan aims to restore dealer ties and refresh lineups to regain pricing power and profitability, the people told Reuters. "This is not just a cost-cutting plan. We're rationalizing operations, reprioritizing and refocusing our business to plant seeds for the future," one of the people said. The plan also aims to cut competition and expand cooperation with alliance partners, the people said. Nissan will follow Mitsubishi in plug-in electric hybrid vehicle technology, with the smaller peer taking the lead in Asian markets outside China and Japan. France's Renault will likely focus on electrical vehicle technologies and Europe. Nissan and Mitsubishi declined to comment. Renault did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The plan, led mainly by Chief Operating Officer Ashwani Gupta rather than Nissan's low-key chief executive, Makoto Uchida, is aimed at freeing resources to invest in products and technology for the United States, China and Japan, the people said. "The net effect is even though we reduce our R&D spend this year versus last year and make other savings, we pump those freed-up resources back into core markets and core products," said one of the people, who declined to be identified as they were not authorized to speak with media on the matter. The plan is likely to take up to two weeks to be finalized, with sales and earnings targets complicated by the anticipated long-term impact on auto sales of government measures worldwide taken to stop the coronavirus outbreak, the people said.

2022 Infiniti QX60 fully revealed with vastly improved design

After a "concept" was shown last September, the significantly redesigned 2022 Infiniti QX60 has finally been revealed. And inside and out, it's a huge design improvement. It has a more traditional SUV exterior, with a much more modern and luxurious-looking interior complete with an infotainment system from this decade. As expected, the production QX60 looks just like the concept, and that's good in our book. It has a boxier, more confident shape but still with the brand's signature curvy detailing. The new two-tone paint is only available on the top-level Autograph trim, though. Interestingly, the new QX60 has the same wheelbase as the crossover it replaces, though it's overall two inches shorter and about an inch taller. Perhaps not surprisingly, the QX60's interior doesn't seem to have changed in size much. Only cargo space has been announced, and while it has 1.4 cubic feet more space with the third row folded, space is down by between 0.4 and 1.4 cubic feet behind the first row and the third row respectively. Space wasn't really the QX60's interior weakness, though — that was in the extremely dated design. Fortunately, the new model tosses everything from the old one out the window. It now has a low, flowing dash that helps provide a more airy feeling. It has the en vogue full-width air vents. It's particularly fetching in Autograph trim as shown above with semi-aniline quilted leather and open-pore wood trim. The infotainment is updated and features a 12.3-inch touchscreen. It can be matched with an available 12.3-inch instrument screen and a 10.8-inch head-up display. Infiniti has added additional sound-deadening, too, and among the standard features are a panoramic sunroof, three-zone automatic climate control, eight-way power heated seats, wireless Apple CarPlay, wired Android Auto and seating for seven. The Autograph swaps the second-row bench for captain's chairs. Powering the new QX60 is a tried-and-true 3.5-liter V6 making the same 295 horsepower and 270 pound-feet of torque as before. But, like its cousin the Nissan Pathfinder, it's now connected to a nine-speed automatic transmission, which also bumped towing capacity up to 6,000 pounds. Front-wheel drive is standard with all-wheel drive available on all trim levels. Infiniti says the all-wheel-drive system has been reworked for faster engagement, and it's able to send up to half of the engine's power to the rear wheels.