I stepped in through the doors of my local Infiniti dealer, eager to finally purchase my first “fancy” car. I was keen to give the G37 a try. But as I arrived, I immediately got a funny pit in my stomach. Red carpet? Gold trim? Decor from the 80s? This can’t be a luxury brand’s showroom. The Nissan dealer was nicer. I barely looked at the car and walked out. That was 2010.
Would it surprise you if I told you that now, in 2024, that Infiniti dealer still has the same red carpet?
What’s wrong with Infiniti?
I have a soft spot for Nissan, as you might know, and they are in big trouble. Most cars are sold at a loss, and production has been cut by 20%. Nissan has had to sell a third of its stake in Mitsubishi just to remain solvent. Renault wants to sell off its share entirely, and remember they pretty much own them. I could go on with more numbers, but suffice to say the situation is grim.
How grim? According to The Financial Times, a senior official at Nissan warned, “We have 12 to 14 months to survive.” Yikes.
Sad, but they have only themselves to blame. Their lineup consists of outdated, me-too sedans and SUVs that barely resemble the heroes from 20 years ago. Pathfinder. Z. Murano. My parents (and myself) had these cars, and they were all unique and well built. Now, aside from a soon-to-be-dead GT-R and the amazing Z NISMO, there’s just nothing left.
Lost in all of this is Infiniti. Through the third quarter of this year, Infiniti sold just 42,567 vehicles, compared to the 87,934 that it sold during the same time period in 2019. The average Infiniti dealership sells just 24 vehicles per month. BMW M – this is just M, sold 47,057 cars in Q3 alone. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
To answer why, I’m going to take a look at three strategic mistakes Infiniti made.
Infiniti car names are completely forgettable
The BMW M3 outsells the M4 (though by how much, BMW will not say). And though they would never admit it, I believe it has to do with the name. We all grew up wanting an M3. That’s the name that sells, that has meaning.
Infiniti actually had that. Remember the G35? The FX45? M45? These were good cars that scored well in reviews, and enthusiasts took notice. But once former Infiniti President Johan de Nysschen came on board from Audi, he ordered model names be switched to Q and QX, seemingly without reason. In most cases, Infiniti didn’t even wait for a new model to debut, resulting in things like the FX changing to QX, despite being the same exact car. Sales were cut in half the next model year.
They still have not recovered. QX50, QX55, QX60 – these are the model names, but I had to look that up to be sure. I don’t know what any of them look like. The naming convention might mimic Audi, but Audi is an established brand, and they certainly didn’t reinvent their model names once they became popular.
Infiniti’s lineup became dated and cheap
About twelve years ago, I inherited a really nice white G37 from an ex. Yea, the VQ was buzzy. But that car was tight. Perfect steering. Good brakes. Let me at one now, and I bet I’d give it pretty high Soul Score.
The G35 debuted in 2002, in both coupe and sedan form, and was redesigned for 2006. In 2014 the name was changed to Q40 (same car, remember), and oddly, it was sold next to the car that was to replace it: the brand new Q50 sedan. Imagine an E90 and an F30 on sale next to each other?
Consumers became confused by the name change, and enticed by gigantic discounts on the old model (which really wasn’t all that different from the new one). At that point the G/Q was a decade old in a segment known for constant updates. Today, the Q50 remains much the same, and now it too is a decade old.
Their current lineup consists of just five models, of which only the QX80 is new. This big SUV was hoped to cause a splash, but with an MSRP of over $80,000 in a showroom full of red carpet…
They’ve never shaken the ‘fancy Nissan’ stigma
Re-badging a car is hardly new. Toyota does it to this day with the Land Cruiser and Lexus GX. But for some reason, Nissan and Infiniti were always a bit more obvious about it.
Remember the Pathfinder/QX4 clones? How about the G20 with the engine from a Sentra? And wasn’t it always odd how the most expensive Maximas were about the same price as cheaper Infinitis? Looked the same inside too.
That sin remains. Sit inside an Infiniti, and find the shifter from a Nissan. Infotainment systems. Steering wheel. The list is long.
Now other brands like Lexus and Acura are doing the same thing, but if I ask you if you’d like a Civic or an Integra, I bet I know which name you’d pick. Infiniti doesn’t have that brand cache.
What’s Infiniti’s plan?
It doesn’t look good. With dealers not selling enough cars to stay afloat, Nissan has given them permission to merge with Nissan dealers if they happen to own one. Cats and dogs living together? More like cats and cats.
Infiniti insists that it will be segregated from Nissan, so they will get their own walled-off showroom and customer lounge. But they can share the same salespeople, and they won’t care what they sell you. Can’t afford the monthly payments on a Q50? Here’s an Altima. The lines will only become more blurred as time goes on.
In all honestly, do you think the laymen even understands the difference between an Altima and a Q50, meaning front-vs-rear-wheel drive? They just want a leather chair and a nice stereo. I digress.
Nissan is already doing this in Canada, where they sell even fewer Infinitis. It hasn’t worked.
So can Infiniti be saved?
I don’t run a car company, nor would I want to. But allow me write as though I did for just a few minutes: Infiniti needs to take a risk or they will die.
Say what you want about Tesla, but ol’ Elon has three things going for him: Balls, money, and a vision. Tesla didn’t just magic their way to success – they had to take a gamble and create a product that might have been controversial, but was one they believed in. Maybe everyone hated the cars and they folded. But if they didn’t make something different, they’d just blend into the rest of consumer meh and die anyway.
What’s happening at Infiniti is the symptom of a larger problem, which is that people want cars that make them stand out. Something that’s aspirational to own. BMW does it with grilles. Ferrari does it with sound (and style). No one raps about sitting in the back of an Infiniti – that’s Benz territory.
If Infiniti wants to survive, they should spend what little time they have left and give one final push – make a product worth remembering. Fly her apart then, as Sulu would say.
It’s either that, or keep slowly circling the drain into…infinity.
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