Infiniti Q50 News

Infiniti's Brighton dealership in Victoria has cut the prices of models by as much as 44 per cent in a bid to move existing stock ahead of the luxury Japanese brand's local market exit by the end of next year.The self-described 'fire sale' is available on

Infiniti Australia announced earlier this week it will pull up stumps by the end of 2020, but what exactly caused the demise of the Nissan-owned luxury brand locally?

Infiniti will exit the Australian automotive market in late 2020, giving itself less than 18 months to shutter local operations including an eight-strong dealer network around the country.

Nissan Motor Company is set to trim at least 10 per cent of its global model line-up by March 31, 2022, in a bid to streamline production and boost profitability amidst dwindling sales.

Infiniti Cars Australia has announced updates for its Q50 sedan and Q60 coupe ranges with consolidated variants, updated pricing and changes to equipment levels.

The Infiniti Q50 sports sedan for the 2016 season comes with two new turbo-petrol engines that are supported by a range of new chassis technologies.

Infiniti Australia introduced its updated Q50 range this week, with the premium mid-size sedan receiving a refreshed look and extra equipment, while diesel variants have been dropped.

Last week’s column about reversing cameras sparked plenty of healthy debate. Some readers agree with Mazda boss Martin Benders that reversing cameras aren’t a silver bullet, while others see them as a potential lifesaver.A silver bullet does exist.Almost five years ago, I attended a Nissan safety briefing in Japan where the company told media it was looking at developing technology that could slam on a car’s brakes if it detected anything in its path when the car was reversing.Emergency braking feature for reversing is still not commonplaceNissan engineering director Masao Fukushima said the technology would be relatively quick and inexpensive to develop as it used existing features such as parking sensors and blind-spot radar.But despite huge advances in safety tech, an emergency braking feature for reversing is still not commonplace, even on luxury vehicles.We have auto braking that can stop a car moving forward at low speed and there are even cruise control setups that can brake in an emergency.Mazda is the only mainstream maker to have a reversing emergency brake featureIronically, Mazda is the only mainstream maker to have a reversing emergency brake feature — available on its top-of-the-line Mazda6 sedan. The Infiniti Q50 also has it.But in Australia, it’s been left to a Brisbane aftermarket company to develop a solution. The Reverse Alert sells for about $1500 installed.The company is preparing to list on the stock exchange. It envisages the technology being used on forklifts, building sites — and, of course, the home driveway. It is estimated one child a week is reversed over.

Infiniti adds price-leading 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol variants to Australian Q50 lineup.Just eight months after the Infiniti Q50 first arrived in Australia, the Japanese luxury brand has introduced new 2.0-litre petrol price-leading versions of the mid-size sedan.Available in the same GT, S, and S Premium trim levels as the existing turbodiesel and hybrid Q50 variants, the new Q50 2.0-litre models undercut the existing turbodiesel models by $1000 across all grades, resulting in a new Q50 entry price of $50,900 for the GT 2.0t.Each trim level offers the same rage of entertainment, safety and design features available with the 2.2d and Hybrid models.Infiniti expects the new 2.0t to make up around 60 per cent of Q50 sales, following current segment trends that also see 30 percent of buyers opting for turbodiesel, and 10 per cent buying hybrid variants.  The new 2.0-litre turbocharged engine is sourced from Mercedes-Benz, where it recently made its debut under the bonnet of C200 and C250 versions of the new W205 C-Class.In Infiniti guise, the 2.0t produces 155kW and 350Nm, which is slightly more power and slightly less torque than the 125kW/400Nm 2.2d turbodiesel and significantly less than the 268kW/546Nm Q50 Hybrid.As with the current Q50 models, the new model comes with an automatic transmission. The Q50 2.0t shares the same seven-speed torque converter transmission as the 2.2d turbodiesel, which puts the power out through the rear wheels. The Hybrid is available with a dual-clutch transmission and all-wheel drive.In terms of fuel economy, the new Q50 2.0t’s 7.3L/100km combined figure is the most thirsty of the Q50s. However, the 2.0t is only marginally behind the 6.8L/100km Q50 Hybrid in rear wheel drive S trim (7.2L/100km AWD), with the 5.2L/100km 2.2d turbodiesel maintaining top honours.

Previously shown at the Detroit Auto Show as a design study, the high performance concept will appear again at Geneva, sporting an aggressive powertrain.The Japanese prestige brand previously indicated that this high performance engine uses forced induction with its cylinders set in a 'V' formation. It has also said that this is a 'big personality' engine.Now we can objectively agree with Infiniti on the whole 'big personality' claim because the company has released a teaser video giving us our first listen to the car. With wastegates 'whistling' and turbochargers 'whooshing' throughout the video, this engine, which is likely a V6, certainly sounds angry.Specific details on the power plant remain a mystery, but Infiniti boss Johan de Nysschen believes power should be in the realm of 370kW and 810Nm of torque for this sort of car. What's more, anyone who has listened to a Nissan GT-R will likely hear similarities between its exhaust note and the new Infiniti's.Whether the GT-R team would give up the 3.8-litre twin turbo unit that they've developed almost obsessively over the past few years is, however, unknown. We'll learn more details when the Eau Rouge concept appears at the Geneva Motor Show next month.Watch the Inifiti Q50 Eau Rouge engine teased video on our desktop site.