The Infiniti FX, one of the most bold looking cars on sale, gets a facelift. The most obvious change is up front, where the FX wears a new grille inspired by the Infiniti Essence Concept from Geneva 2009. There’s also newly designed alloy wheels. Inside the “command center-style cockpit”, heated seats are now standard across the range, while the Fine Vision electroluminescent gauges has a more pronounced white appearance.

Here’s one interesting feature we found – an automatic driving position system. This moves the steering wheel and wing mirrors adaptively into the correct position when the seat is adjusted, allowing the driver to change the seat position and keep the same mirror viewpoint and relationship between the steering column and driver’s shoulder position.

The FX comes with two engine options, a 5.0-litre V8 with 390 hp and 500 Nm and a 3.5-litre V6 with 303 hp and 355 Nm. Both are mated to a 7-speed auto with manual shift mode, Downshift Rev Matching and Adaptive Shift Control. Solid magnesium paddle are thrown in with the Sport Package.

Based upon the Infiniti FX35 AWD variant, the Limited Edition features an exclusive Iridium Blue exterior colour, 21-inch 10-spoke graphite finish wheels (with 265/45 V-rated all-season tyres), dark tinted headlights with Adaptive Front lighting System (AFS) and auto-leveling, and dark tinted side air vents and lower door trim.

Other LE features include aluminum roof rails/roof rail crossbars with graphite finish, aluminum pedals, graphite floor mats with unique blue piping, Infiniti Hard Drive Navi and Around View Monitor.

Infiniti, which is coming to Malaysia later this year, will be debuting a new seven-seat crossover called JX soon, read about that one here.

Gallery after the jump.
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Fresh from his win at the Malaysian Grand Prix, and ahead of this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix, Formula One World Champion Sebastian Vettel had a different type of cameo run on track, test driving two Infiniti vehicles around a test track in Shanghai.

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The Red Bull Racing driver took to the wheel of a 5.0 litre V8 Infiniti FX50, followed by a 3.7 litre V6 Infiniti G37 sedan, and amazed onlookers by lapping the circuit at high speed and demonstrating the handling capabilities of the luxury road cars.

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The 23 year-old world champ thought the whole thing was a blast. “It was great fun to drive these Infiniti cars today. I was impressed; they have good handling and plenty of power – which is always a good mix – it was fun out on the track. I have been driving an FX50 myself recently, they’re nice cars and it’s great that more dealerships are opening in China.”

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After the drive session, Vettel visited an Infiniti Center in Shanghai where he met fans and senior Infiniti executives, plus toured the showroom to take a closer look at the full Infiniti range available there. Ah, yes, the benefits of signing on as a major partner with a F1 team – lots of great publicity and PR, from a world champ at that. The brand is due to make its debut in Malaysia late this year.

An Infiniti G37 Coupe S has been designated as the Work Car Zero in the 2011 season of the Rallies Championship of Spain – the car, supplied by Infiniti to the Royal Spanish Motorsport Federation, began its duties on April 1 in the Rally of Villajoyosa.

The collaboration expands on Infiniti’s involvement with the GT Championship of Spain – it already supplies a Safety Car to work in all events there. The Zero Car will be driven by Marc Blázquez, World TT Champion driving for Nissan, with Salvador Belzunces alongside as co-pilot.

The model chosen to support the Spanish Rally Championship is a G37 Coupe with a six-speed manual gearbox, and mechanically continues with its 320 hp, 360 Nm all-aluminium six-cylinder block as well as the standard limited slip diff.

Essentially, the Infiniti Zero Car is running at near standard specification, with a few modifications. A roll bar by VIMESA, Bilstein dampers, Galfer brake pads and brake fluid, outdoor lights and siren as well as communications equipment and a GPS were added, all prepared by Meycom in its facilities in Madrid.

Elsewhere, Sparco donated the racing seats, seatbelts, a fire extinguishing system and equipment used by the drivers, and Michelin has fitted the car with high-performance Pilot SuperSport tyres. In addition to the sponsors of the RFEA, the car also wears the colours of the Royal Automobile Club of Catalonia.

Nissan has made Indonesia the first market in Asean to introduce the Infiniti brand, with the opening of a dedicated showroom in Jakarta and the launching of three models into the market last week. Four variants are currently being sold in the country – the FX50 and FX37 crossovers, the M37 sedan and the G37 coupe.

According to a report in The Jakarta Post, the Indonesian operation aims to sell 200 cars in 2011, and in the process obtain a 5% market share of the premium segment, which was worth 5,327 units in 2010 (out of a total industry volume of 745,000 last year). It’s all going well, by the looks of it – the company has thus far sold between 40-50 examples of the three models since its arrival.

Indonesia is the first of 25 markets where the brand will be launched globally until next year, all part of the brand’s plan to expand its global presence. The report adds that the company is studying plans to introduce the Infiniti Performance Line in Indonesia, though there are no plans to launch diesel variants into the market.