Infiniti’s decision to name all of their products Q-something befuddled the industry and launched a thousand online forum flame wars. Their next decision was even stranger — when the Q50 replacement for the existing G37 sedan bowed, the current car was kept on as an entry-level option for buyers who couldn’t quite stretch to the more sophisticated and feature-laden Q50. (As an aside, this is the kind of thing that just murders resale value directly in the face… but if you want resale value, you need to keep rolling past your Infiniti dealer all the way to the Lexus shop.)
For 2015, Nissan’s luxury division has either simplified the Q-issue or complicated it, depending on your perspective.
The G37 is no more. Enter the Q40, which is basically last year’s stripper-model G37 with a different badge. Supposedly an entry-level compact-lux car is coming, which would be named Q30. Think of the Q30 as being the old G20, the Q40 as being the old G37, and the Q50 as being the new G37.
TTACers who are interested in an opinion on the Q50, as opposed to the G37, are encouraged to check out Road&Track’s recent review, penned by your humble author. I found the Q50 to be an amazingly satisfying and pleasant way to get down the road, right until the point where the computers gave up during an extremely optimistic corner entry and I had to shoulder a locked-up, un-power-assisted two-ton vehicle through the rest of it. For anyone who would not be given to trying that kind of back-road stupidity, it’s recommended without reservation. The old G37/new Q40 isn’t a bad car, but it’s rough stuff compared to the polished-up new model.
It’s interesting that you sing such high praises of the Q50, when most other reviewers and afficionados have expressed dismay with it (especially the steer-by-wire option) and mostly prefer the approach of the G37 *ahem, Q40*. It’s nice to see a different perspective.
I thought that too, but the Q50 doesn’t shine so much when you read the R&T piece. As a G35 owner I’m pretty bummed about the press this car is getting. Maybe they’ll sort it out with the 500 hp version.
I believe the steer-by-wire is part of an option package, so it won’t be all Q50s.
That wouldn’t make sense, engeneering two entirely different steering gear arrangements.
I think most of the mechanicals are a carry-over from the G. If they won’t change the standard engine or transmission, why change the standard steering rack?
Yeah, it’s part of a $3,100 “Deluxe Touring” package, which requires upgrading to the “Premium” model Q50.
Yes, the base/premium/s without the Deluxe Touring package are still using the same steering system as in G37.
Infiniti’s obsession of DAS is said to be attributed to the urge of autonomous driving. I’m not sure drive-by-wire is the only way to implement that. Does the Google car use that?
I had a Q50 base model as a loaner while my M45 was in the shop for some recall work. In short, it’s a prettier package inside and out with higher quality materials (that lower screen thingie is sharp!), better NVH, and seemingly more backseat room than the outgoing G37. It still has that jittery Infiniti handling and somehow it didn’t jump off the line like the last G37 loaner I had, but at least the shifting is better sorted than my M. Nothing odd noted about the steering, but this was again the base model (well appointed at that) probably without the DBW system.
I drove the car and liked it. Every single luxury feature you’d expect. Good looks. Just not a car I’d personally buy.
First, the G37 was supposed to be replaced by the Q whatever-it-is.
Then, the G37 was supposed to carry on for about a year as the new Q was phased in.
And now it’s being renamed, which is a good indication that it won’t be cancelled at all.
It sounds as if this has become Infiniti’s new CLA fighter. Same car, but moved down the positioning and pricing ladder.
Word from Infiniti is that it’s a blue plate special for them to sell on price, rather than a true entry level product like the Q30.
I know there is more to a vehicle than power, but I like the fact that Infiniti’s “Blue Plate Special” at under $34K is coming with a 328hp V6.
It raises the question of what would eventually replace this G…er Q whatever. The car is good, but aging; can they develop a replacement that keeps the good parts but hits the price point?
PCH raises a good question. If the Q30 will be smaller, but more modern and hits the $30K price point, is there enough space for a Q40 replacement in the years to come to fit in between the Q30 and Q50. The Q50 is up against the A4, 3 series and C class. Each of those manufacturers have only one model below them, whereas Infiniti now thinks it can have two?
The Q30 is a crossover-type thingy, not a direct rival.
The issue could be that the G-series cars were meant to be 3-series/C-class rivals, with a price point that was meant to be competitive with those cars.
If the replacement for the current G/Q-whatever is targeting the CLA, then something will probably have to give in terms of contenting if it is to be profitable. Infiniti has made this commitment to RWD; is that going to remain possible when competing at this lower price point?
They need to price it at $29,900 like the CLA and new A3. With the V6 at that price point, it could be a good seller for them.
Maybe I’m in price denial, but I went to the Infiniti website and priced the “price fighter.”
With top Accords coming across standard with navi, you’re not going to shop in this class and do without it. The cheapest MSRP for a G/Q40 with navigation is about 40 big ones. This for a car that’s loud, coarse and has the interior room of a Corolla.
Now, I’m aware that these won’t sell for anything close to MSRP, but wow. Good thing the Q50 is a worse value for money.
Really? Are you looking at the US Infiniti website? Currently the MSRP for G37 is 32,850 and the navigation package is 1,850. Far below 40k.
Well, it gets a little closer, because the navigation package mandates that you have the “Premium” package as well ($2500). Infiniti’s “if you want package A you must buy package B” pricing has always been ridiculous.
Yes, you are right. I hate the incremental packaging as well, yet many other brands are using a similar design as well (in the name of trims): if you want function x, you have to buy trim A, which includes many other stuffs you may or may not want to buy.
But can you get a coupe version of either?
The G37 coupe carried on for 2014, with a name change: Q60.
…I should have known. Should have freakin’ known.
Just because BMW did something silly doesn’t mean the world has to copy them, you know?
All these years and they are still trying to figure out what they want to be. Infiniti needs an A to Z revamp. And I say this as a former Q45 owner and lover. At least in that car I knew it kicked Lexus’ ass.
Actually, they do know — they want to use RWD and expand internationally in order to compete with the Germans.
Of course, confusing the existing customer base with a completely illogical naming strategy probably wasn’t a great way to start. But Johan De Nysschen comes from Audi, where everything starts with an “A”, so I’m assuming that it was his idea.
Well, except everything at Audi doesn’t start with an “A”, so this shouldn’t make sense, even to him.
Actually it’s not totally illogical as Infiniti used to use Q (Q45) and QX (QX4) naming, although I personally think G should have been kept instead of Q. Audi already has a series of Qs.
Renaming the cars was a complete waste of time. The brand equity that was created with the letter=class approach ala Mercedes has been flushed in favor of a different Audi/Volvo-style convention, for no apparent reason.
Infiniti has had its issues, but the naming convention haven’t been the problem. Fix the stuff that’s broken, instead of breaking the stuff that isn’t.
Good luck competing with the Germans when they’re buying chassis and powertrains from Mercedes. Who thinks Mercedes is gonna share their A game just so Nissan can compete with them?
then MB didn’t have to make a join venture with Nissan in Mexico.
The only Infinitis I ever cared about were the sedans that had V8s. If you think your product lacks identity, changing the model names is not the answer.
Don’t forget, they also picked up stakes and moved HQ to Hong Kong. Next, Infiniti needs a Lincoln-level rebranding: The Infinity Motor Company of Japan via Hong Kong.
I’ll be curious to see if Nissan follows.
I think this is Infiniti’s way of getting into the huge Chinese market. The same way Cadillac softened up the lines of the ATS to appeal to Chinese customers. Apparently Infiniti is oblivious to the inroads already made by the Germans.
People buy Infinitis other than the QX56 and JX? Or whatever they illogically choose to badge them this weekend?
Not really. They have to fill the showroom somehow though.
I remember when the G35 was a desirable car.
Not so much anymore.
People must really love ugly SUVs in your area. I see way more G’s and FX’s than QX’s and JX’s round here.
The QX56 is the new ‘it’ car for Palm Harbor/East Lake/Clearwater middle-aged female homemakers. You can’t throw a rock without hitting one – due to its gigantic flanks and their numerical prevalence. Even my dealer principle’s wife just HAD to have one. Purchased a black ’12 manufacturer buyback from Infiniti NA that she didn’t like, so ended up getting her a ’13 QX56 with all the packages (how she wanted it) for like $48,9.
The JX is the QX’s companion in this regard.
The QX56 is the mommymobile of choice in upscale suburbs everywhere. Tiny, will manicured and coiffed women apparently need these 5500 pound behemoths to navigate their way to Whole Foods.
If Infiniti rolled out a North Face Edition with Lululemon seat covers they could probably sell it for $75k and have buyers lined up out the door.
That’s a really good price for a QX though.
Flybrain, didn’t know you lived in the neighborhood. You’re right– there are two QX56s just in my work parking lot. What I love is that all of the folks who bought JX35s (every mom with kids Berkeley prep that bought a car last year) now suffers the “indignity” of everyone knowing theirs has to be 2013 due to the renaming. I have yet to see one with a “QX” badge as I crawl up East Lake Road.
I see mostly Gs and FXs as well. Not many QX56s. The Range Rover and X5 have the large SUV mommymobile market locked down tight. As for the JX, these comments are the first I have even heard of the thing.
The RR and X5 are both considerably smaller than the QX. I put the QX with the Navigator, Land Cruiser, Escalade, and LX.
The QX is indeed a behemoth; which is probably why it is near non-existent in the SF Bay Area. I think even the “I need a tank for the safety” crowd starts to ask “is that really necessary?” when looking at a QX56. I’ll add the Sequoia to the company you mentioned as well. Maybe the styling makes them look larger than they are, but both the Sequoia and QX56 look like buses to me, even next to Navigators and Escalades.
RR and X5 are still large vehicles in their own right.
“The G37 is no more. Enter the Q40, which is basically last year’s stripper-model G37 with a different badge. Supposedly an entry-level compact-lux car is coming, which would be named Q30. Think of the Q30 as being the old G20, the Q40 as being the old G37, and the Q50 as being the new G37.”
My brain just melted.
Yikes, dead last in the comparo for the Q50. The 3 series already has motors it can soldier on with for several years, they can keep making small bumps to the N55 output as needed. The Lexus just needs FI (or a V8 in a non F model). The Q50 needs more than a new motor. And I almost spit out my drink when I saw the base & as tested price of the ATS. I know it’s the Premium trim, but there’s no way I’d give up gobs of torque in the 335 for GM’s 3.6.
I think we all would’ve had a great laugh if they would have named it the Q45 instead. I loved my G37S 6MT Coupe (see Avatar), but Infiniti really screwed the pooch with this Q50.
RIP Infiniti, you had a good run, but it’s over. Cadillac will pick up your sales with the ATS Sedan and Coupe. Go sit in the corner with Acura and Volvo. Leave Saab alone, he’s dead.
just for things to be even worse, looking at the Infiniti website it appears that the old G37 coupe/convertible is now the Q60… so the old G37 range straddles the new Q50 in naming
I thought the hold-over of the G37 for 2014 was just a one year band-aid while they worked out the kinks in the Q50. Now it’s part of their permanent plan? Is the G sedan going to linger forever like the Panther?
Not to mention, the Q60 coupe, which is the same as last year’s G37 coupe, isn’t getting the same price cut as the sedan. It’s still priced to match the Q50.
So in short…
The current G37 will become the Q40
The current Q50 is the replacement for the G37, which was later named the Q40
The current Q60 coupe is still the same as the old G37 Coupe
I think Infiniti’s marketing department is trolling us all. They would have done better giving Infiniti cars names and maybe starting a trend of their own. If I didn’t know any better, if someone told me they drove a Q50, the first thing that would come to my mind is when did Volvo release that?
Um, renaming the SEDAN version of the G the Q40, while the COUPE version is called the Q60, when the intended replacement for BOTH is the called the Q50 is mind numbingly confusing.
The Q50 is an absolute disaster for Infiniti. Sales are down ~50% vs. the MY2013 G37. Somebody should be fired for this product management debacle (enter the hedge of now carrying on the G37 as the Q40).
The G37 had a unique position in the class – it appealed to both enthusiasts (big power, more engaging drive) and “luxury” buyers (“premium” branding, Kmart as it was) owing to its low price point. The Q50 backtracks for the former and has it has done nothing to advance the latter WRT the competition – you’d have to be mental to pay IS350/C350/3er money for the now more expensive Q50.
I have driven the Q50S. It’s an okay car; most notably a better ride and NVH; vs. the G37. However, it has the same power train yet a bit heavier, isn’t as fun to drive, and the dual screens and ridiculous tech is a total deal breaker.
How they didn’t learn their lesson after the Q and M redesign disasters I’ll never know. It’s sad though, given how good the first two generations of the G is/was.
Could not have said it better myself. The G35 and 37 walked the middle line perfectly between power and luxury. The new one has a stupid name and from the sounds of it stupidness in other areas where it once shined. About its only downside (in early versions) was someone basic (cheap-ish?) interior. I almost bought one, but found the hatchback and more aggressive 350Z a better fit for my lifestyle.
G? Q? Who cares? These are anonymous, boring cars. Just stick a Nissan badge on there and call it an Altima. Oh, wait….
The original G coupe was a genuinely good looking car. Something to lust after and dream of a cloth interior Nissan badged awd TT 6speed GT-R variant of at an actual enthusiast level price point. The paint stroke ads were perfect for that car as it really had the fundamental coupe profile. They started to stray when the next one was left under the heat lamp a bit to long but the power and interior made up for it. Now the lines of these cars are so bafflingly un attractive and un gracefull the paint stroke ads ought to be replaced with something like Picasso or Pollock.
Gs were a great reasonably priced car for people who wanted a manual 6MT RWD sedan with a “premium, but not a douche” kind of feel. Yes, most people who bought the Gs did not have this in mind, and for them a well-optioned Altima V6 could have worked just as well. Altima actually looks slightly better IMO.
What an absolutely uneducated comment.
Are you from Autoblog or Jalopnik?
Dose one have to be educated to form an opinion on aesthetics?
It helps, because many people who have the time and money to get a proper education also spend a lot of time looking at and discussing stuff that doesn’t matter in real life. Ergo they usually know a lot more about non-essential stuff like design.
Just for the record, I own and drive one of the most beautiful coupes on the road. I’ll give you a hint…..it is German and comes from a town that starts with “I”
No, I’m from TTAC, just like you. BTW, after seven years of college and two degrees, I’d have to say that I’m not uneducated. Sorry if I somehow hurt your feelings when I mentioned that these are boring cars from a styling perspective.
Just went on the Infiniti website, the M is still featured as a 2013 model.Is there a 2014 model planned? Is it being replaced soon? Is it going to be renamed soon to Q70?
The q/g 50 might make a solid cpo buy in three years , does not help those who paid retail or Infinity but for those who love a deal these may drop lok e a stone vs the competition
As a 10 year G35 Coupe owner, I can honestly say that fit and finish has always been the weak link in Infiniti ownership and continues to this day. Personally, although I own a Nissan product, I won’t go there again.
This stupid Q-name scheme is going to go down in automotive history as one of the dumbest decisions ever. Infiniti people don’t even know what’s what – let alone the typical buying public.
Fail
I could live with the name change. The end of the oh so talkative chassis and steering as well as the availability of the manual in the sedan is unforgivable.
Did I understand it right, that it was the car where it was absolutely essential to make sure that computers work right at all times, because it’s the one where steer-by-wire debuted, and then Jack crashed the computer by steering too aggressively? If true, Infiniti’s ineptitude is amazing, an achievement easily topping the Volvo crashing into a truck during the auto-brake demo.
I was exceptionally unkind to that Q50 on those two days.
To amuse myself, I swore that nobody on the staff would be able to drop me while I drove the Q50. In order to make that boast stick, I had to use every trick in the Abusive Sedan Driving book, from trail-braking on the street to pump-and-popping the accelerator to rotate in slow corners.
I doubt a “normal” driver would ever experience what I did. By the time that happened, every system in that car was probably heated way past design specs.
What ever happens to these media cars? I always imagined that when you run a carfax and you see “manufacturer car”, you run as far away as possible because of people like you.
Well, I suppose it’s fair. If you can overheat Boss 302… On the other hand, I wish automakers kept real oil temperature gauges at least in cars with pretensions of sportiness, for the warning purposes (I heard Porsche fakes them nowadays, which is a shame).
The funny thing is, Infiniti’s website claims that the system is the result of 10 years of development. 10 years, and they still haven’t got it right!
Maybe I missed this news..Does this mean the end of the G25 completely?
Since it never existed, probably.
au contraire mon frere.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sUHCpXAQQQ)
I had no idea it existed! My apologies. I’ve certainly never noticed one on the road. I’ll listen to that this evening, even though the content may be dated.
So… Why did G25 flop while IS250 is a major success? Aren’t they the same? No?
Sure, Lex has a v6 (a very, very miniature v6), and that thing is just smooooooth. But engine alone is but a part of the car. Back when G25 existed, the 250 came with a fairly antiquated 6-speed transmission, so it’s all in a wash, right?
The G25 was only available in very stripped (by luxury standards) form. Most IS250s sold are loaded to the gunwales with bells and whistles.
You can lease a new G37 Premium and Navigation for $999 down, $269 a month at my local dealer. How much cheaper could a G25 have been?
I think they only made it for 2 years – 2011-2012.
Arrrgh!
The lettering/numbering systems of cars today are driving me crazy!
It used to be, that if you had an Infiniti G37, you had a “G” series car with a 3.7 liter engine. If you drove a BMW 328i you had a 3 series car with a 2.8 liter engine.
Now, none of that matters anymore. What does a 328 have? a 2-liter turbo. A Q50? A 5-liter V-8? Nooo, a 3.7 liter V-6
What’s the point of the numbering system if it means nothing?
Just my rant of the day
Counter-rant of the day: Ze Germans’ number systems have NEVER been reliable, and those who think they were have rose-colored memories and are expecting something too complicated for marketing to laypeople.
Who remembers the 280SE 3.5? Or the 190E 2.6? Or the 745i with a 3.2-liter turbo six? Or the “Z3 2.3” with a 2.5-liter six?
Why is the picture of an Altima?
Hahaha…..I love it! Exactly my point. It’s not an Altima, but it sure does look like one. Like I said–anonymous styling.
Don’t underestimate the appeal of anonymous styling. Wigged out styling turns off many people, perhaps more than it turns on.
Read any reviews of the IS Sport lately?