CarBrandLogos archive · Infiniti · 1989

InfinitiQ45

A 4.5-litre V8 flagship launched with no grille and adverts that showed no car.

Photo: IFCAR · Public domain

The story

A defining chapter in Infiniti history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Infiniti Q45, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

Nissan and Toyota moved into American luxury within weeks of each other in 1989, and the contrast in how they did it was instructive. Toyota's LS 400 was aimed carefully at Mercedes; Nissan's Q45 was aimed at nothing in particular. It had a 4.5-litre four-cam V8, rear-wheel drive, and a front end with no grille at all, just a cloisonné badge on painted metal, which in a market where the grille carries the brand was a considerable risk.

05-06 Infiniti Q45 · IFCAR · Public domain

Design and engineering

The engineering was genuinely advanced. An optional hydraulic Full-Active Suspension arrived in 1991, one of the first such systems fitted to a production car, and it worked well enough that the car handled unlike anything of its size and weight.

1997 Infinit Q45 4.1L front 6.20.18 · Kevauto · CC BY-SA 4.0

In production

The launch did not. Infiniti's American advertising showed rocks, trees and water without showing the car, an approach intended to convey serenity that mostly conveyed confusion, and it is still cited in marketing courses as an example of what not to do. Lexus outsold Infiniti heavily from the start and never stopped.

1997 Infinit Q45 4.1L rear 6.20.18 · Kevauto · CC BY-SA 4.0

Legacy

Later generations added a grille, softened the styling and lost the distinctiveness without gaining the sales. The line ended in 2006, with the stretched Q70L eventually taking the flagship role.

At a glance