All Entries Tagged With: "Nissan"
Old Infiniti Q45 Ad Asked A Damn Good Question
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: YouTube ::: Infiniti Q45 Advert – Where Were The Cars We Were Promised?
AH, the Q45. The last of the luxury sedans offered by Infiniti before Nissan’s luxury nameplate went all bling and $#1t.
Pity that Infiniti never got the Q45′s formula of svelte, Japanese luxury for the American market quite right. Seems somehow odd, considering that so many agree that Infiniti design has since managed to nail the FX SUV and G coupe. The Q never did best the Lexus LS in sales, quality, or curb appeal, let alone match the cache of its Teutonic rivals.
But that didn’t stop Infiniti’s marketing team for taking a few jabs at their domestic competition at the turn of the Millenium. Where were the cars we were promised? is a straightforward US campaign and a direct shot at General Motors for all those far-flung space-age concepts that Harley Earl & Co. teased us with in the 50s and 60s that the General never delivered.
Needless to say, Infiniti marketing had a point. It’s just too bad that Infiniti Q45 wasn’t the car to deliver the way of the future.
Contrasts: Lotus Elise v. Nissan GT-R
Lotus Elise v. Nissan GT-R
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG Kevin Kusina
WHAT defines a sports car? Really?
And has the definition changed? At a recent exotic car rally at Foxwoods, we were treated with a small lesson in contrasts. On paper and by word of mouth, Nissan’s infamous GT-R is every bit a performance machine: 485 bhp, 434 lb-ft of torque, 193 mph max velocity, Brembos, AWD, spoilers, electronic spoilers (VDC), and the rising sun rocket comes fitted with a Porsche-grade price tag – $80K to start.
On paper, the Lotus Elise seems to offer much less.
Top speed 150 mph thanks to a gimbly four pot, 185 bhp, 133 lb-ft of torque built by and originally for – gulp – Toyota. The price? $45K to start.
And then we leave the paper realm and find the two cars, shoulder to shoulder, rim to rim in a parking lot full of Ferraris. And this is where that all-important definition comes in to play.
Next to the Elise, the GT-R seems tall and slab-sided with the height, width, weight, and road clearance that seems more inline with a full-size, passenger friendly Altima sedan – they make ‘em big now! The Nissan simply towers over the little Lotus.
Then you consider, in its vast shadow, this low, lithe little British track car. There’s no excess paneling, in fact the cabin seems to be squeezed between wheel wells and air intakes. Sneeze and you just might skid its 1984 pound curb weight sideways into the next spot.
The Nissan, by contrast, weighs 3,814 lbs.
It’s seems improbable how the Elise is fit for human occupation. But, fit it is and does, if barely; requiring a gymnasts’ flexibility from driver and passenger during ingress and egress.
Which brings us to a question put to most performance machines: which car would you rather steer forcibly around a track at great speed? Which car would, by merit of its own stature be less likely to lean, pitch, and wallow without the help of electronics? Which car would consume less and fight on longer in long-distance competition rallies? Which driver would feel more in-tune with his car?
Which car is really the true sports car?
That answer depends on your definition.
Santa’s Royce
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG by Andreas Thurner for CAR
CAR magazine is a marvel.
The British mag’s inherent knack for out-of-the-box reporting, fun, and creativity brings fresh coverage to what’s otherwise a pretty pat landscape of dry stats, press releases, and forced hyperbole.
Kudos to them, then, for recently coming up with the idea of challenging designers from various carmakers to pen a contemporary version of Santa’s sleigh.
Four car companies responded and the rest (however many inquiries there were) probably said Bah Humbug! The reps from companies of good humor and holiday cheer were Bentley, Ford, Nissan, and Rolls-Royce.
And while each marque’s designer brought his own sah-WEET take on Santa’s next ride, it was Rolls-Royce artist Andreas Thurner’s work that stands out for its elegant impression.
Mr. Thurner’s sleigh is beautiful representation for the company he serves. It’s the reserved and benign humor that betrays not an inch of dignity and yet both tickles and charms us with its wit. What’s more, the execution with its sweeping lines and monochromatic color scheme is simply beautiful.
And that CAR magazine’s website features the Santa concepts as personalized e-Christmas cards that you can send to friends ‘n family, is another one of the mag’s brilliant features that I plan on putting to good use.
[Linked: CAR]
Efficiency + “The Plot” Lost: Infiniti Design
The M35x is an example of how Infiniti has lost the plot.
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG by Infiniti
GUIDING the M35x’s stubby, leather covered gear lever into D, a realization hit me: Infiniti is the most un-Japanese of Nippon brands.
How so?
Inside Infiniti’s GS/5er/XF/ E-klasse fighter, the black plastic dash that disrupts two elegant sheets of supposedly real African Rosewood features an array of buttonry surrounding a clumsy multi-function wheel.
The controls feature explanatory pictograms and English titles.
For example, if you’re not sure what an inch wide rectangular button with the image of a telephone receiver does, Infiniti’s designers thoughtfully etched the word “Phone” adjacent.
Infiniti boasts that the dash’s “meticulous” design was the artistic culmination from inspiration that can only be found in a piano’s ivories. Functional considerations were also central to the dash’s architecture, since “the instrument panel lays flat so fingers fall naturally over the keys.”
The result in what Infiniti’s marketers are calling “elegant” is design that embodies as much grace as the automotive brail Buick once used in the senior-friendly LeSabre. Just as bad, the instrumentation wastes almost as much space.
Esoteric considerations of gauche interior ergonomics aside, the build quality, fit ‘n finish, and total design execution in Nissan’s luxury line, from FX to QX, rank a distant third behind Toyota’s front runner Lexus and even – gasp! – Honda’s floundering Acura.
Nissan’s luxury division lacks its initial elegant purpose as Japan’s reliable answer to Jaguar – remember the (G50) Q45 of the early 90s?
What made earlier Infiniti examples work was the singularly Japanese process by which they were built: eliminate all waste.
Be trimming a fat shoulder line from a fender or manufacturing time from assembly lines, the guiding lesson in Japan’s (and Toyota’s and Honda’s) post WWII rise centers on the nation’s obsessive, seemingly collective goal of maximizing efficiency. The novel idea is that from efficient design a superior product is delivered to the discerning customer – for less.
Considering the M35x’s confused design and its weighty fourty-eight large starting price, you can’t help but wonder that somewhere in the luxury car race Infiniti lost its advantage by losing the plot.
