Two weeks ago, Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn announced ambitions for Nssan's premium brand Infiniti to spearhead the European Market. By 2016, Ghosn is looking at a 100,000 European sales target.
Initially, a front-wheel-drive premium-compact model was slated to face off against the Audi A3, Mercedes-Benz A-Class, and BMW 1-Series. While that's all well and good, the question is, especially during a period of Eurozone economic stagnation, how will Infiniti bring attention upon itself when it currently remains a relatively new and unestablished brand in the particular market?
One of Infiniti's first, and so far boldest campaigns include the sponsorship of the Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team. However, shouldn't a relationship be drawn between the automaker and the defending world champions?
Infiniti's head of F1 operations Andreas Sigl said, "A halo car would help us. It could bridge the gap between Infiniti and F1."
Infiniti has been talking about a range-topping halo car for a while and the Infiniti Emerg-E concept has been its best showcase yet. However, Infiniti is still hesitant to move the prototype forward.
Based on the Lotus Evora and closely co-developed with the British automaker, the Emerg-E concept was first unveiled at the Geneva auto show and will later be featured at the Goodwood Festival of Speed hillclimb. While that's all great, according to Car and Driver, Infiniti is concerned that the current specs on the Emerg-E might not deliver the level of performance that they'd like to see.
Another possible alternative is the 2009 Infiniti Essence concept. The concept featured a GTR-derived twin-turbo V6 married to an electric hybrid drivetrain. A design several years old, the Essence hasn't aged a bit and some industry insiders have even claimed that the concept isn't out of the cards just yet. However, an alternate drivetrain will have to be chosen as an Infiniti GTR has been ruled out.
While Infiniti's grand halo scheme is great and all, the premium brand now has two great concepts that it cannot to apply. A bit down on power to be considered a supercar, perhaps the Emerg-E concept could be marketed as an eco-conscious performance vehicle similar to the BMW i8.
As for the Essence concept, Infiniti only has to look at the mutual success between the Nissan Z and Infiniti G coupe to know that the dual GTR prospect isn't bad at all.
Two halos are better than none is what iMotor always says.
