08 Infiniti M35 S Loaded,touch Navigation,runs Great!! on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Recharge Wrap-up: Infiniti considers EV for China, NextEV hires former Tesla, Apple engineer

NextEV has hired Tesla Autopilot and Apple veteran Jamie Carlson as Senior Director of Advanced Technologies. The seasoned autonomous driving engineer joins fellow former Autopilot engineer Kurt Thywissen, who is now NextEV Senior Director of Human-Machine Interaction. NextEV, which is working on an all-electric supercar before focusing on mainstream EVs, recently obtained a self-driving car permit from California and opened its North American headquarters in San Jose. Read more at Electrek. Infiniti is considering launching its first EV in China. "When I think about EV, we design it for China definitely, even as the first market to launch," says Infiniti President Roland Krueger. "We are discussing this internally constantly what is the right timing for Infiniti to have such vehicles." Infiniti has held back on launching an EV, focusing instead on hybrids, but says it could be "very fast" in deploying an EV once it decides to do so. Having Nissan and Renault backing Infiniti, the luxury brand is confident about its access to proven EV technology. Read more at Automotive News Europe. Thrifty car rental has added a Tesla Model S to its fleet in Canberra, Australia. Available at the Canberra Airport, it's the first luxury EV offered for rent from a mainstream rental company in Australia. Australia's capital offers a small registration discount and no stamp duty for EVs, making it a cheaper and more practical place to locate the country's first rental Tesla. Thrifty's parent company, NRMA, is calling on Australia's other states and territories to remove financial and regulatory barriers to EV technology. Read more at The Motor Report.

Infiniti Q30 spied again

The Infiniti Q30 is back in the news thanks to the imminent debut of the QX30 Concept as its crossover counterpart at the upcoming 2015 Geneva Motor Show. The siblings are Infiniti's entrants into the popular premium compact ranks, and the standard hatchback was recently spotted in Europe with the least amount of concealment yet. Granted, this tester is still pretty heavy camouflaged, but this is a lot better aesthetically than the previous garbage-bag-covered look. While the pattern makes specifics hard to discern, the translation from the motor show stand to the road appears to be leaving the Q30 Concept's styling largely intact. Up front, the squinting headlights and swollen-rectangle shape of the grille remain similar, and while they are pretty hard to spot, the slashes down the side are faintly visible from some angles. The rear hews even closer to the original design with a comparable shape for the taillights and hatch, but exhausts are much smaller on this test car. Underneath the skin, the Q30 reportedly shares its platform with the Mercedes-Benz GLA-Class, and the engine is also expected to be the 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder available in Mercedes' compact lineup. Official details should start spilling out soon, though, because Infiniti wants production of the hatchback to begin in 2015 at the Sunderland plant in the UK. A launch for the US market is expected in 2016. Featured Gallery Infiniti Q30 Spy Shots Image Credit: CarPix Spy Photos Infiniti Hatchback Luxury infiniti q30 infiniti q30 concept

First Infiniti QX30 Concept image released ahead of Geneva Motor Show

After releasing a shadowy glimpse of the rear of the QX30 Concept a few days ago, Infiniti is finally shining some light on the premium compact crossover's backside ahead of the vehicle's full debut at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show on March 3. The QX30 is a thorough reworking of the brand's Q30 Concept from the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show. Many of the same styling elements show up on the latest luxury crossover interpretation, but the touches are tweaked to better align with Infiniti's latest look. In addition to jacking up the ride height by 1.2 inches, the CUV gets hard creases in its sheetmetal and complicated 21-inch aluminum wheels that really grab the eye. The rear wears a contrasting dark purple stripe that separates the hatch area from the exhaust tips housed in the skid plate, and both concepts share a coupe-like proportion with the backseat door pulls hidden for a cleaner line. While not pictured, the company says the vehicle has a glass roof. Infiniti still isn't showing the aluminum-trimmed front of the concept yet, but the automaker admits that the styling on display here hints at the possibility of a future premium compact crossover, which isn't really a surprise. The company has talked about a production QX30 several times in the past. First image release of strong and stylish Infiniti QX30 Concept • Concept combines elevated crossover stance with strong coupe contours • World premiere at 2015 Geneva International Motor Show • Enhanced crossover is 30mm taller than Q30 Concept HONG KONG – Infiniti today provides the first full glimpse of the QX30 Concept, which will have its world premiere at the 2015 Geneva International Motor Show. The crossover concept hints at a future premium compact vehicle and gives a strong indication of the brand's commitment to this segment. Pushing design boundaries, the QX30 Concept combines the sleek lines of a coupe with the distinguishing features and higher stance of a crossover. Looking poised for action, yet fluid, it promises to deliver effortless capability with style. "We wanted the spontaneous fluidity of the QX30 Concept design to cut through the urban clutter and rigidity, reflecting its go-anywhere and spur-of-the-moment nature," said Alfonso Albaisa, Infiniti Executive Design Director.