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Infiniti previews new Q80 Inspiration concept ahead of Paris debut

A couple of weeks ago, Infiniti released a teaser and brief statement on a new debut it had in store for the upcoming Paris Motor Show, and the Japanese luxury marque is now giving us a bit more to chew on.
Previewed in the slightly more revealing teaser image above is the Infiniti Q80 Inspiration concept, a "low-slung, ingeniously aggressive four-passenger fastback" that hints at a new flagship model from Nissan's luxury division that the automaker says is meant "to demonstrate to the premium world just how Infiniti aims to play its part."
Sounds promising, though we'll still have to wait a bit to find out more, so watch this space. In the meantime you can scope out the brief statement in the press release below.

Autoblog's Matt Davis named Infiniti global product and brand communications director

The door that separates automotive journalism and automaker PR swings both ways, and swings often as we see journalists move over to PR and vice versa. This time, however, it's one of ours.
That would be Matt Davis, longtime European correspondent for Autoblog and frequent contributor to numerous other publications including AutoWeek, Edmunds and Esquire. He was co-founder and longtime chairman of the World Car of the Year Awards, and serves on the jury for the International Engine of the Year awards as well. Matt has resided in Milan since 2001, writing for publications around the world in a number of languages, but will now be moving to Hong Kong.
That's where he will be taking up his new position as Global Director of Production and Brand Communications for Infiniti, which relocated its global headquarters to Hong Kong from Japan more than two years ago. In his new capacity, which he officially assumes on July 14, Davis will report directly to Infiniti's general manager of communications Stefan Weinmann.

A beautiful conundrum | 2017 Infiniti Q60 First Drive

"OK, this should be fun." Hands are rubbed together excitedly. It's a rear-wheel-drive sport coupe painted candy apple red. It's sleek, slinky, and uniquely styled. It's from the same folks who, in the 2000s, finally showed that BMW could be matched in the whole sport sedan/coupe game. Oh, and it has 400 horsepower. Four-hundred! With a four. And yet the 2017 Infiniti Q60 underwhelms. What looks so good on paper instead is rather conflicted, stuck somewhere in no-man's land between the traditional expectations of a performance sport coupe and those of comfier, more luxurious cruisers that isolate and pamper their occupants. It's a serious effort with serious engineering and a clear desire to be innovative, but at least in the range-topping Red Sport model we tested, it fails to come together in a way that truly excites or indulges. A great coupe should do one or the other, and ideally both. To explain, let's start under the hood, where Infiniti's all-new "VR" series 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 makes its second appearance after debuting in the Q60's four-door sibling, the Q50. In the Q60 Silver Sport model, it produces 300 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque courtesy a pair of turbochargers that create 8.7 psi of boost. In the Red Sport, the knob is turned up to 14.7 psi, resulting in the oh-so-salivatory magic number of 400 hp along with 350 lb-ft of torque. A device known as an optical turbo speed sensor, special to the Red Sport, manages and maintains that extra boost, while an electric motor fitted to the valve timing system serves to quell any loss in throttle response due to forced induction. The Red also gets a second water-cooled intercooler, which, in both models, is distinctive for its more compact size, shorter airflow path, and, according to Infiniti, a resulting reduction in turbo lag and more immediate engine response. It's certainly a clear improvement on the somewhat rough 3.7-liter "VQ" V6 it replaces, which increasingly felt and sounded a little out of place in a luxury car. The new VR30DDTT, as it's so eloquently named, is buttery smooth and indeed responsive, likely capable of convincing luxury-car owners used to naturally aspirated V6s that everything's business as usual. Honestly, its character is reminiscent of a silky Honda V6. In some respects, that's a great thing. In others, it's where the Q60 starts to fall flat.