Infiniti, Nissan’s premium brand, has plans to launch a standalone electric model in 2019, Autocar reports. The car will be previewed in concept form at the 2018 Detroit Motor Show.
According to the report, Nissan’s senior VP for global design Alfonsa Albaisa confirmed that the upcoming full EV will not be a variant of an existing model and would instead be an all-new model. It was also revealed that the planned EV would not share a platform with the Nissan Leaf, and will instead sit on a new platform.
He said that at the Monterey car week, the annual event where Infiniti showed its Prototype 9, a classic race car-styled machine powered by an electric motor. The former Infiniti design boss said that we would see “parts of the car in a difference context” on the electric concept planned for Detroit 2018.
The UK mag added that earlier this year, Infiniti boss Roland Krueger told the publication that an electric model was coming and that he had already driven an early prototype that was “very good”. Krueger said that it was important that an EV maintained Infiniti’s values of performance and handling. “We want it to have a unique Infiniti driving experience,” he said.
At the same time, Krueger acknowledged that parent company Nissan has experience in making EVs, and there are things to learn from. “There are lots of engineering competencies we can tap into and utilise,” he said.
The fascinating Prototype 9 comes with a 30 kWh lithium-ion battery pack, which Infiniti says offers up to 20 minutes of EV range under heavy track use. The motor itself is described as a prototype, and it provides 120 kW (161 hp) and 320 Nm of torque. The sleek sports car you see above is the Infiniti EMERG-E Concept that was shown at Geneva 2012.
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