The QX30 Concept shares platforms with Infiniti's Q30 - and several Mercedes-Benz models.
Infiniti gave us a hint of what it had in store for the compact crossover earlier this month when it released a teaser image of its QX30 Concept. Now, two weeks before the small CUV makes its formal debut at the Geneva Motor Show we’re getting a more complete look at the QX30 – which inside sources tell TheDetroitBureau.com is “extremely close” to what the production model ultimately will look like.
The QX30 is a taller, beefier version of the Q30 concept Infiniti unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show in autumn 2013. Both models will be going into production later this year. And, in a significant development, both will share their underlying platform with some of the new small cars being built by Mercedes-Benz.
“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,” Infiniti’s executive design director, Alfonso Albaisa, said in a statement.
The QX30 Concept is a “soft-roader,” designed for what automotive planners like to call “urban adventurers,” but it emphasizes its capabilities – and differentiates itself from the Q30 show car – with it skid plate and aluminum-trimmed front bumper. It also features carbon fiber trim for such exterior components as its roof bars and cladding.
But the most critical difference between the two models isn’t immediately visible. The QX30 will go with an all-wheel-drive powertrain, rather than the front-drive layout of the Q30.
“The QX30 Concept aims to reignite the premium compact segment with a distinctive approach to design that looks beyond the practicality and conformity expected of the segment,” Infiniti suggested in a news release accompanying the teaser pic sent out earlier in February.
Compact crossovers make up the fastest-growing segment in the global auto industry, and a wide range of mainstream manufacturers have begun flooding the market with new entries, including the likes of the Lexus NX and Lincoln MKC, on the luxury end. Cadillac has made it a priority to come up with a version of its own. And German makers are rapidly filling in every possible “white space” with compact CUV variants.
Infiniti is betting that the production version of the QX30 will not only flesh out its line-up but help it gain traction in a bid to grow beyond its traditional role as a primarily U.S.-based Tier II luxury brand.
(Infiniti undergoing another management shake-up. For more, Click Here.)
To get there, Infiniti is relying on the fast-expanding alliance between its Japanese parent, Nissan Motor Co., France’s Renault, and Germany’s Daimler AG. In this case, both the Q30 and QX30 will be powered by the small luxury vehicle architecture originally developed by Daimler’s Mercedes brand for such models as the CLA sedan and GLA compact crossover. Sharing the underlying platform helps both manufacturers cut costs while offering a broader range of products.
At least initially, plans call for the two new Infiniti models to be produced solely out of the maker’s plant in Sunderland, U.K. The Q30 will begin rolling down the line in mid-2015, the QX30 following “shortly thereafter” according to an Infiniti planning document. The plant will supply markets in Europe, the U.S., China and other parts of the world.
(Click Here for details about the new 400-horsepower Infiniti Q60.)
Mercedes and Infiniti also have teamed up to build a new assembly plant in Mexico. It will be based alongside a more mainstream factory in the central city of Aguascalientes.
(To see more about the QX30 teaser shots leading into Geneva, Click Here.)
The partners have been vague about specific production plans for the luxury plant, other than to say it will use the “next-generation” Mercedes compact luxury car architecture. Whether that would mean updated versions of the Q30 and QX30 or some yet-to-be-revealed addition to Infiniti’s small vehicle line-up remains to be seen.