Infiniti G37 2012 News

... to the prestige brand’s presence.The luxury arm of Nissan is the latest entrant in Australia, launching in September with the FX range of SUVs and the M sedans.A G37 coupe and convertible will join the fleet later this month with prices starting at $75,900 for the V6-powered coupe and $87,900 for the hardtop. Infiniti Cars Australia general manager, Kevin Snell, says the duo deliver on the company’s “inspired performance” motto.“The Infiniti G Coupe and Convertible are exciting alternatives to the current crop of luxury sports cars. Their exterior designs set them apart and they deliver a true sports car-style driving experience,” he notes. Both cars are propelled by a 3.7-litre V6 with 235kW/360Nm matched to a seven-speed automatic.Standard equipment includes 18-inch alloy wheels, bi-xenon headlamps, dual-zone climate-control, leather upholstery, powered and heated front seats, a seven-inch touchscreen for the infotainment system, satnav, Bluetooth streaming, a Bose sound systems and a sunroofThe range-topping S premium versions add more interior bling along with upgraded brakes fitted inside 19-inch rims with a tyre pressure monitoring system. The coupe’s sports credentials are boosted by four-wheel steering, a sports suspension tune and a limited-slip differential.The G37 will take on products from Japanese rival Lexus along with the usual German suspects in Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, all of which have less powerful engines for the same price. Infiniti says its design gives buyers a chance to stand out from the angular pack without sacrificing comfort or performance. It also has the best warranty of any prestige brand at four years/100,000km.“These two cars open Infiniti to another vital segment within the Australian luxury car market and expand the scope of our ability to offer luxury car buyers a long-awaited new choice,” Snell says.PRICE COMPARISONModel; Coupe; ConvertibleInfiniti G37; $75,900; $87,900Lexus IS250; N/A; $76,300Audi A5; $66,900; $78,500BMW 325i; $80,850; $94,600Mercedes-Benz C250; $69,900; N/A   

....just caught by Carparazzi during testing at the Nurburgring.It's heavily camouflaged but likely to take its design cues from the Emerg-E concept car, while also sharing mechanical parts with the new Benz C-Class range. 

Nissan Australia CEO Dan Thompson said the premium brand – which arrives here next September – intends to overtake Lexus. “Our ambition in the longer term, you know 2020, clearly is to be well ahead of where Lexus is today,” he told Carsguide. Speaking in Japan ahead of the Tokyo international motor show, Thompson, who heads up both Nissan and Infiniti in Australia, says Infiniti will launch with four different vehicles in three series: the BMW 3-Series sized G Series, in coupe and convertible; the Mercedes E-Class sized M Series; and the FX which goes up against the likes of BMW’s X6 and Porsche’s Cayenne. Thompson pointed to movements in the luxury car segment in recent years, notably the emergence of Audi against established luxury rivals BMW and Mercedes-Benz as evidence of how much the category can change in just a few years. “I wouldn’t sit here and pretend to forecast where any of those four brands will be (by 2020) but I can assure you Infiniti will be in a strong position and certainly at least the number one non-European premium brand in Australia.”  The challenge will no doubt be heeded by Lexus which is in the process of attempting to reinvent its image in Australia with a range of more exciting products, including the forthcoming GS F Sport sedan, which also launches next year.Like Lexus Infiniti will offer a hybrid drive train on the BMW 5 Series-sized Infiniti M Series at launch. But unlike Lexus Infiniti has the option of introducing diesel models from its European range, something Thomson said was very much on the radar. “From a power train perspective we’ll have options across the range ranging from hybrid, diesel or petrol,” says Thompson. He dismisses suggestions that consumers may have bad memories of the Inifiniti brand, which was briefly sold here in the early 1990s via the single model Q45 luxury sedan.The attempt at the time by Japanese car makers including Toyota (Lexus), Nissan (Infiniti) and Mazda (Eunos) to challenge the German prestige brands was largely unsuccessful, with only Lexus surviving. Infiniti fared better in the USA, though, and its success there eventually led to the brand launching in Europe in 2008 and its planned Australian comeback. “For me it’s not really a question of re-establishing. I don’t believe the brand ever was established here. We launched a model for a period of time that was very short lived,” says Thompson. “Our biggest challenge in establishing the brand now is awareness in a very crowded space.There are 64-odd brands in the market today (and) there’s a fair few premium or quasi-premium brands fighting over a rather small slice of premium or luxury consumers. “We’ve been very particular about who we’ve selected as our partners, our dealers, to make sure that they can deliver that same Infiniti promise and experience.”    So particular in fact that there will be just three dealerships at launch - one each in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane - none of them established Nissan dealers. Thompson acknowledges the lack of dealership presence other than the east coast capitals is not ideal but is confident the brand will grow to encompass these markets.   “It’s not our intention to keep the brand within just the three launch cities. We’ll eventually go out to the likes of Perth and northern Queensland and Adelaide but it will take a bit of time and we’ll do it when we believe the brand is starting to establish itself and there is enough scale to warrant going to some of the second-tier markets.”