One thing’s for sure, Infiniti (we hope) are being far more daring than they usually are with regard to their design language. The Q Inspiration, a concept car due to be shown at the upcoming Detroit Motor Show, is visually distinct among the rest of their Japanese premium marque’s previous work.
While it might not carry over the cues from its existing models, and granted this is only a teaser that shows the car’s rear end, the Q Inspiration signals much needed a departure from their current comfort zone - one defined by sharp looks, if littered with some quirky details.
The trade off here is that the car looks a little derivative, adopting the widely used four-door coupe shape with a roofline that extends and tapers all the way to the car’s tail. Again, we know its only a partial preview of a concept car, but these things tend to trickle down to the production level, and this could be Infiniti wishing to gauge customer and critical reaction to such a change.
Try as we might, there’s really nothing here that we could attribute to being a nod to their current crop of cars, not even their C-pillar dogleg kink that they’ve had a habit of toning down recently, shifting to the upper reaches of the window line rather than at its base. No doubt that the front end will still feature the brand’s signature grille and a more familiar fascia in general, though, which is probably why they’ve chosen to show the least familiar parts of the car here.
Presumably, Infiniti’s new executive design director Karim Habib has had the most to do with how the Q Inspiration concept looks, saying: "We aim to take traditional sedan architecture to its next stage of evolution. The Q Inspiration offers an alternative form; something more flowing in appearance and muscular in stance, with an unusually long and balanced cabin,”
“Experimenting with new proportions in an established segment with the arrival of smarter, compact powertrains, the Q Inspiration features a shorter hood and elongated body, with all the benefits to interior wellbeing, comfort and space that this layout entails."
As we reported last week, SVP of Global Design for parent company Nissan, Alfonso Albaisa, had some choice words about the Detroit-bound showcase vehicle. Aimed to be a modern interpretation of Infiniti’s first full size luxury sedan since the Q45, the near limo-length concept takes aim at cars such as the BMW 7 Series, Mercedes-Benz S-Class, and Lexus LS, though we doubt Infiniti would manage to pull that feat without sacrificing the Q Inspiration’s shapely profile.
When the covers do drop in Detroit, expect the car to also feature many of the usual future-facing motor show tropes such as very little detail on powertrain and an unrealistically minimalist interior. Words like ‘autonomous’, ‘electrification’, and ‘intelligence’ should be thrown about the event like confetti, too.
Infiniti has tread a similar path before with the Q80 concept from 2014. While that showed plenty of promise, the company seemed to drop interest in the project. Hopefully, the Q Inspiration concept will actually amount to something tangible for buyers instead of being another design study.
For more on Infiniti cars, check out our Showroom.
