Sometime, the day before yesterday, pics of the all-new 2014 Infiniti Q50 where ‘leaked’ by one of the manufacturer’s Canadian Retail website and yesterday, if you happened to have visited the Infiniti website you could have witnessed the global launch of the car, live.
The Q50 is much inspired by the Infiniti LE Concept showcased a few months ago.
About the exterior design, the profile of the front grille reminds one of the Lexus spindle grille and the rear lamps are Hyundai Sonata-esque. The interiors like the M sedan, evident from multi-seam leather upholstery on the door trims and the curvaceous styling. The car rolls on 19-inch split spoke alloy wheels.
The choices of engines are between Infiniti’s 3.7-litre 24-valve V6 engine and a hybrid engine with the combined power of the 3.5 litre V6 and a 50kW electric motor powered by a lithium-ion battery. Transmission duties are handled by an all-new dual clutch transmission with 7 speeds (we assume). No word on the possible 2.5-litre V6 variant yet. The naturally aspirated 3.7-litre is suspected to make atleast 330 bhp @ 7,000 rpm and 270 lb-ft at 5,200 rpm. The net power from the hybrid system is also suspect of making in excess of 300 horses, probably 360 bhp @ 6,500 rpm while torque will peak at 258 lb-ft for the combustion engine and 199 lb-ft for the electric motor. The hybrid variant could very well be the fastest hybrid car in the world, when it makes its way into showrooms.
The car is equipped with Direct Adaptive Steering which reduces excessive road vibrations felt through the steering wheel. It also comes with intuitively adaptive headlamps that has 4 settings.
How about conveniences? It has a driver-specific configurable setting for the direct adaptive steer, auto driving position. ATC, etc and all this is configurable through the iPhone. The compatibility of the system with Android OS Phones is yet to be seen.
The Q50 will have an infotainment system equipped with 2 multimedia screens, one looking almost 8-inches and the other just as big; much of the hard buttons have been replaced. Audiophiles have not been disregarded, as evident from the on-board audio system, a 14-speaker Bose audio system. It also comes with Infiniti’s Back-up Collision Intervention a.k.a. BCI as seen on it’s rival, the Cadillac ATS. When in reverse, BCI detects crossing vehicles and objects behind the vehicle and signals the driver with visual and audible alerts. If necessary it will apply the brakes automatically to avoid collision. You also get an Around View® Monitor served by 4 cameras and a ‘pinch, zoom and swipe’ function on the multimedia screen.
