To Infiniti and... obscurity? The Infiniti Story

In the 1970s and 80s the Japanese big three, heck with Mazda the big 4 were unstoppable, so it’s reasonable to think that their luxury brands, Lexus, Infiniti and Acura were going to take over the world. Yet today Infiniti is a niche player that’s struggling to compete. Why has it failed to capture the world’s imagination despite many reboots?

Thanks to Bojan Marsetic for letting use his music at the start of the video (the song "Move On!"):

Big Car Podcast:

Sources:
Infiniti’s website, archived through the Wayback Machine

#bigcar

[BigCar]

Erratum: I said "1982" for the J30 introduction, where it was of course 1992.

[nathanjoseph]

I love these documentary videos where you cover an entire car brand rather than just focusing on a particular model (however I do enjoy videos about car models too). It's interesting to watch the story of how a certain car brand evolved and changed over time.

[claudiobizama]

Bless John Davis, he has been doing TV for 50 years now, most of it being Motorweek. Also bless the whole team at Motorweek for uploading old reviews, and still going on the Youtube era.

[BOABModels]

To Infiniti, and... Well, maybe not beyond...

[thomasfrancis]

Never realised there were so many models = what a hopeless marketing mess, especially in forgetting the basics of producing something that potential customers actually want.

[mrgurulittle]

The Q50 and Q70 were truly underrated cars. I hope Infiniti picks up sales one day.

[aaroneichhorn]

I own a 2007 G35. I absolutely love it. Infiniti was at the top of their game back in the 2000s. I’m rly hoping they can gain back momentum

[nickgee]

I remember the g35 Sedan being so popular in the 2000s, I really liked it too. That was the height.

[parrotantics]

I rarely see Infinitis on the road, but seeing their logo on Red Bull Racing jackets from Super Seb's prime times puts a smile on my face.

[chrisgarcia]

I remember my neighbor would smoke Mustang's, Camaros with his moms Q45 .It was a beast in those days.

[arieljones]

The "Q" naming thing was possibly the dumbest move a manufacturer has ever made in relation to naming models.
A complete mess. I've never remembered a models name since.

[sir]

growing up in the Middle East, infiniti in the early 2000s seemed to have so much promise, the G37, FX, the M-Series were all hits...you had to be there

[Sam-mwhx]

You should have focused more on the G35 and FX35, they completely did a 180 for the company and the G35 won car of the year by motortrend, also the VQ engine won dozens of awards over a decade.

[garyfenwick]

I currently have a 2016 Q50 3.5L V6 Hybrid, and I can tell you now it is the best car I have ever owned. Blisteringly fast and it has never ever let me down in 6 years.

[EnglishMike]

Excellent channel with details I do not get elsewhere. Hope it continues for the foreseeable future.

[X-Typewoes]

I remember my friend, who worked at the Nissan Sunderland plant, telling me about when the Renault bosses visited around 20 years ago. QC was immediately changed; as long as it had 4 wheels, it went out!

[visual-enthusiast]

the G35 was the sheet back in 04 and 05

[omidnamin]

i had a g35 coupe with brembo brakes when they first came out. i literally had one of the first ones in toronto. I"m telling you man driving that thing around town got you the attention of a supercar for the first year or so.

[SnappyWasHere]

Those old commercials brought back some good memories from when I was a teenager! I’ve still got the brochure from Infiniti I got when doing a research project my junior year. I feel so old now.

[killahurtz]

The FX-45 shape was often described as "a pissed off pumpkin" by auto journalists at the time of its launch lol. The fact that its promo photos were often that burnt-orange color likely helped that nickname along lol.