- The Infiniti FX50 Performance Concept will be unveiled at the upcoming Frankfurt show by the man who helped design it — reigning F1 world champ Sebastian Vettel.
- Infiniti sponsors Vettel's points-leading Red Bull F1 racecar.
FRANKFURT, Germany — The Infiniti FX50 Performance Concept will be unveiled at the upcoming 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show by the man who helped design it — reigning F1 world champ Sebastian Vettel.
In an earlier video clip released last week by Nissan, Vettel was seen discussing a few details of the car with Nissan's design boss Shiro Nakamura.
The first official photo was revealed this weekend by Nissan, with the brief headline: "Sebastian Vettel To Unveil His Perfect Infiniti." The accompanying two-sentence press release identifies Vettel not only as "reigning Formula One world champion," but also as the "Infiniti FX driver who helped design" the new concept.
Among the few visible details in the photo are a redesigned grille and front bumper, as well as a carbon-fiber apron, side skirts and roof spoiler. Performance-spec tires are mounted on unique alloy wheels.
Infiniti is a sponsor of Vettel's points-leading Red Bull F1 racecar.
Inside Line says: There's a reason why Vettel gets paid to drive racecars instead of designing SUVs.
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lzks says:
05:21 AM, 09/05/2011
@aston_dbs Totally agree. This looks much better than stock FX... minus the apocalyptically ugly LED strip in the front.
pchang7 says:
12:40 PM, 09/01/2011
@suxoid
Wow, I'm surprised Vettel drives a FX as a personal vehicle. That's pretty cool, I did not know that.
@fvgtr35
I'm afraid you are right about the Japanese automakers being gunshy of repeating the 90's. They did come out with some great cars then, but the marketing did not carry those cars. Instead, the marketing of the tuner market sold the remaining turbo cars then. I think Infiniti understands the importance of marketing, and IMO they are using many different avenues to attract buyers.
However, the majority market/demographic of car buyers for Infiniti, or any other luxury automaker for that matter is significantly affected by those who do not have similar interests as auto-enthusiasts.
Those who affect the final design of any product from a luxury/sport manufacturer today is not going to be what we want. But I really can't blame these companies for taking this route, as most enthusiasts just don't have the money to buy some of these cars. I think this is why the GTR has lackluster sales right now. It is just too expensive for the market it was designed for. Car manufacturers will continue to take this route, because to them it's better to overprice a car than underprice it.
pchang7 says:
12:29 PM, 09/01/2011
@akula1
What point did I miss of yours that you didn't even make? You basically insulted Nissan/Datsun/Infiniti for using an F1 champion to design a car. What is so far fetched from this idea? Let's hire a person who drives cars for a living, to design a car. Doesn't sound that stupid to me.
Nissan is not misspelling anything, it's just your lack of grammar knowledge that doesn't allow your brain to understand that this is not a misspelling error. Why don't you look up what homonyms are. I doubt you even know what designing anything means or consists of, probably a 13 year old drooling over the tought of driving. Why don't you gain some knowledge before you rant about stuff you don't know, and have no experience in either.
Words get tossed around, and I'm sure he isn't truly designing cars either; but instead providing his vision and input to the true designers of the cars. Your metaphor for trying to compare Vettel designing cars also makes about as much sense as myself trying to piss my name in the snow, completely incoherent. Grow up man.
pittbull101 says:
03:25 AM, 08/30/2011
I'de buy it, if it were available today. It's a vast improvement over the stock version.
fvgtr35 says:
10:58 PM, 08/29/2011
I don't think the japanese will be rushing into the mass market turbo performance arena anytime soon. They are still a little gun shy after the great 90's. Maybe in another 3-5 years we will see a performance turbo/twin turbo set-up for the lower priced performance vehicles. Just my .02.
akula1 says:
04:14 PM, 08/29/2011
@pfchang
Sorry to get your lettuce wraps all in a bunch. Here you go:
D-A-T-S-U-N! Btw, It's Nissan that spells it wrong you sod.
You missed the point completely.
smallfield says:
04:10 PM, 08/29/2011
@aston_dbs
Low bar, but I agree
@pchang
Wish you were right about a TT IPL sedan. I can't see it talking someone into getting a G25 though. If you wanted status, why get the base model of the fourth or fifth best performance car? Clearly AMG, M, RS and V-series are higher performance than IPL is or will be in the immediate future (3-4 years). Nissan will need a second generation to get it right.
A lot is needed to bolster a car to go from 300hp to 400 or 500. Look at the extensive work RS, M, AMG and even V cars have. Infiniti would end up with Caddy's first gen CTS-V if they just turbo the G37 without appropriate design behind it. Fast, but not a German competitor. To make the current V cars that do compete (IMO of course) they had planned the V during the design of the base car. My guess is Infiniti would need 450 hp to compete.
It's hard to go IPL on a base that isn't designed to have that level of performance or power.
I hope they do it. Competition breeds innovation and better cars.
suxoid says:
01:03 PM, 08/29/2011
@pchang7
Vettel personally drives an FX50. This was designed as the 'perfect' Infiniti for Vettel. That is why an FX50 was used.
rayzor says:
12:42 PM, 08/29/2011
I like it alot, consider what the stock looks like, this is definitely and up level make over. Nice
pchang7 says:
12:36 PM, 08/29/2011
@akula1
How can you possibly question someone else's spelling capabilities when you don't even know how to spell the company he is representing. Spell it with me, I N F I N I T I
Designing cars has nothing to do with knowing grammar. Now maybe if this article was about educating children, I would understand a little more where you were coming from, but this does not make any sense.
The real question here is, why are they making a sport FX edition? People who are in the market for crossover utilities can live just fine with the current makeup of the FX. What they really need to do is make the 2013 G series complete.
From what I can see, Nissan has made strides to accomplish this goal. The first step toward a true IPL performance line, is to bring out a smaller engine, and they did this with the 2.5 V6. What most people don't understand is, the majority of 3 series sales does not come from the M3 or 335is. They come from pedestrian drivers who want status, hence they buy the 328i. If they were truly car savvy, they would go for a faster, more reliable, and more beautiful option such as the Lexus IS, Acura TL, G37, or A4.
By bringing out the 2.5 V6 option on the G sedan, now they are able to attain a part of the market share of the "status quo" market. The true enthusiasts will ALWAYS, if they have the money, opt for the best engine and sport package.
This can be accomplished with the counter-intuitive thinking of bringing out a "money maker" in the smaller engine models. Now we can play. Infiniti's lineup should be something like this for the 2013 G series.
Sedan
G25 - smaller V6, same chassis, better practicality than larger engine models.
G37 Hybrid - use similar engine from M37 Hybrid
Coupe
G37 Hybrid
Convertible
G25/G27 convertible
G37 Hybrid convertible
Performance IPL
G37TT - in both sedan/coupe form producing 420hp priced at around 60k, checkmate