How could Infiniti never think that the first gift of his 30th anniversary would be his former boss Ghosn hiding in a musical instrument box and fleeing overseas.

In late 1989, Nissan’s long-planned luxury brand “Infiniti” was born. Before Nissan, Toyota founded Lexus in 1983, and Honda launched the Acura (Acura) brand in 1986, competing for the large North American luxury car market. cake. Of the three major Japanese luxury brands, Nissan and its Infiniti are the latest players to enter the game.

As Carlos Ghosn himself said, Nissan lost $ 40 million a day after his arrest. Infiniti is under Nissan, and naturally it is impossible to stand alone. Another congratulatory gift for Infiniti’s 30th anniversary is that its annual sales in North America in 2019 decreased by 21.1%. In the Chinese market, Dongfeng Infiniti claims that the sales volume of “domestic models” in 2019 will increase by 18.1% year-on-year, but it has not said anything about the total sales of “domestic models + imports”.

The product line can be counted with one hand

2019 has passed, along with two other models, the Infiniti flagship sedan Q70 and the entry-level SUV QX30. In the “hometown” North American market, Infiniti’s product line will have only five models remaining in 2020. Since the Q70 and QX30 discontinuations are due to poor sales, it is likely that there will be no successor models in the short term.

(Infiniti’s product line in North America for sale)

Across the ocean, Nissan’s joint venture, Dongfeng Group, has just announced that Dongfeng Infiniti will sell 33,417 domestic models in 2019, an increase of 18.1% year-on-year. But in 2018, after counting imported cars,Infiniti’s total sales were 44,407 units, compared with 48,408 units in 2017. In the past two years, total sales have fallen, but domestic sales have increased. Therefore, it is no surprise that Infiniti’s domestic cars have achieved growth in 2019, but the total sales figures can better explain the situation.

Because in the middle of 2018, Dongfeng Infiniti QX50 was launched-the number of domestic models has finally increased to two, and it is an insurance SUV model. In this case, the sales of domestic cars in the second year increased by 18%, which is gratifying but not a surprise. In 2018 and 2019, China’s auto market environment turned cold, but Japanese car brands such as Honda and Toyota were in good shape. Lexus sales of all imports in China increased by more than 1/4 in 2019, which is still the case of model price increases. Infiniti is selling more and more domestic cars, and the sales of imported cars have fallen year by year. Although some sales of imported cars have not been announced in 2019, it is unlikely to reverse the trend of previous years.

The reason is not difficult to explain. Infiniti’s imported models in China are all from the US market. Then when Q70 and QX30 were discontinued due to sales in North America, the performance of these imported models in China can be imagined.

In North America, only Infiniti ’s Q50 sedan and Q60 coupe are left. (Q50 derivatives) , QX50, QX60, and QX80 Three SUVs, a total of five models, can be counted in one hand. In China, although Infiniti’s official website lists up to 10 models, among them, Q70 and QX30 are about to die, QX70 is already over-aged, ESQ is a very unpopular Nissan OEM, and the standard wheelbase Q50 and long-axis version Q50L are Counted as two cars, it is so spectacular. The models with real sales significance are actually the five models sold in North America. The two major domestic models sold in China, Q50L and QX50, the latter are new, and the former has been available for 7 years.It is time to renew.

Embedded electric cars, but it will take another two years

For a long time, Infiniti ’s signature powertrain is the VQ35 / VQ37 series V6 engines that have won the “Top Ten Global Engines” award for 15 consecutive years, and its derived low-displacement version VQ25. However, with the advent of the turbocharging era, carbon emissions and energy consumption restrictions have tightened. VQ37 (3.7L) and VQ25 (2.5L) Such a large displacement naturally aspirated engine, it is gradually difficult to keep up with the pace of environmental protection regulations.

Nissan once hoped to use external forces to reach cooperation with Mercedes-Benz in 2010-2017. Infiniti not only uses Mercedes-Benz 2.0T engines, but also directly manufactures entry-level SUVs based on Mercedes-Benz GLA models, the QX30, which is about to cease production. The cooperation with Mercedes-Benz helped Infiniti quickly obtain a small displacement supercharged engine and a richer product line with lower R & D costs. But the significantly more powerful Mercedes-Benz has also become a constraint that it cannot ignore in major markets.

Nissan broke up with Mercedes-Benz in 2017, and Infiniti is finally waiting “Black technology” developed over 20 years-the variable compression ratio engine VC-TURBO . From then on, Infiniti is regarded as returning to the “self-developed core technology” status. When VC-TURBO entered the market in 2018, it won various awards such as Ward’s Top Ten Engines. However, the new engine came too late. When Nissan / Infiniti strongly promoted the variable compression ratio technology of the VC-TURBO engine, it was found that the automotive industry no longer regards internal combustion engine technology as the top priority. The era of new energy is near Right now.

Like many second-tier luxury brands and quasi-luxury brands (Volvo, Jaguar, etc.) , Infiniti now also uses electrification as a determining factor for future development Key opportunity. However, although Nissan started very early (Leaf is the world’s first mass-produced pure electric vehicle) , the development of Nissan electric vehicles As if rushed to the late episode. As a high-end brand of Nissan, Infiniti has hardly enjoyed the support of the parent group in pure electric vehicle technology. In recent years, Infiniti has successively displayed electric concept cars that foretell the future, but it has not been released for mass production.

Infiniti plans to launch its first all-electric car in 2021, and the rear-drive sedan Q50 will also follow the recently discontinued Q70. In the future strategy of full electrification, the front- and rear-drive platforms used by Q50, Q60, and Q70 will be completely abandoned. In the future, they will be replaced by the electrification architecture of front internal combustion engines and rear electric motors. The current QX50 has completed the rear-to-front drive transition. Abandoning the rear-wheel drive platform that is important for luxury cars in advance is a challenge. The question is whether the new electrified platform has the unique charm to support Infiniti’s luxury car identity.

Abandoning rear-drive is a challenge at this stage, and shrinking the product line is another. Q70 (flagship) and QX30