While most automakers are unveiling crossovers at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this week, including some who we'd never have expected to do so only a year or two ago, Infiniti has taken a different route with a full reveal of a stunning fastback sedan in the shape of the Q Inspiration concept. Infiniti claims the concept represents an inflection point for the luxury Japanese brand and the wider auto industry, as well as a bridge between technologies. To the more uninformed, the Q Inspiration just looks like a fabulously desirable car we hope the company will put into production in some form at some point in the future.
Where the car bridges a gap between technologies is under the hood, and that's because it employs Infiniti's new variable compression turbocharged engine technology. Instead of going as far as a hybrid, plug-in or all-electric powertrain, or sticking with a conventional petrol engine, the compression turbocharged engine is something of a halfway house as it's a petrol engine that delivers excellent performance but also maximizes fuel efficiency. And of course, the Q Inspiration also features a healthy dose of semi-autonomous drive technology too.
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Unfortunately, and perhaps predictably for such a stunning concept, Infiniti claims to have no plans to put the Q Inspiration into production. In fact, some elements of the car's design are already seen as somewhat outdated by the designers. For example, Alfonso Albaisa, Infiniti's senior vice president for global design, says of the outrageous front grille, "From a functional point of view, we need to breathe. But I think in the future, where there'll be a lot different types of technology, probably the car can breathe less. So we don't need that dominating big open mouth. We can have this sense of the closed (mouth)."
Then again, Albaisa also admits the swooping spine that starts at the back of the car and reaches its strongest expression in door creases before rounding out along the front wing, does offer significant clues about the design flourishes of future Infiniti production vehicles.
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