Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Carlos Ghosn Hints at a GT-R Based Infiniti

Nissan’s luxury offspring, Infiniti, already has a sports car, the G37 coupe. But lately there has been a lot of talk about cooperating with Red Bull now that the latter is considering entering the car-making business.

In addition, Nissan’s boss, Carlos Ghosn, is teasing us with a rather exciting prospect: an Infiniti version of the amazing Nissan GT-R. At least that’s what he hinted at during an interview in CAR magazine.
The two companies belong to the same group, so platform and parts sharing is common practice these days and Infiniti could definitely use a halo model to combat the M’s and AMG’s of this world. The Essence concept would be a great idea for coating the GT-R's hardware with a sexier outfit.
Like all CEOs, Ghosn was being coy: “If you ask me ‘are we going to do that’, I would say ‘no, I don’t think so’. But if your question is ‘could we do that, I would say ‘yes’. The idea of using existing technologies on the body of an Infiniti… All technologies developed for Nissan are available to Infiniti”.
So, he didn’t say they will do it, by he didn’t deny it either. Chances are they won’t, at least not now, as Infiniti has other priorities: “I think we need to go step by step” says Ghosn. “We have the FX, the M, the G. Then we have the high-end 4x4 QX in the US. We have the electric car and a sub-G smaller car coming”.
No GT-R Infiniti dreams, then? “The idea makes sense. The technology and platform are readily available. The GT-R is a great car. Is it a project now? No. But I don’t want to give you the impression we’ll never do that. But don’t think it’s coming in the next two or three years”.
It’s okay, Mr. Ghosn. We can wait a little longer…


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