autoevolution
 

Infiniti Q30 Compact Hatchback Spied Winter Testing

Introduced as a concept vehicle a year ago at the Frankfurt Motor Show, the Infiniti Q30 is nearing production reality. The latest batch of spy photos shows us a test mule with French license plates playing in the snow in Europe’s northern territories.
Infiniti Q30 prototype spied winter testing 10 photos
Photo: CarPix
Infiniti Q30 prototype spied winter testingInfiniti Q30 prototype spied winter testingInfiniti Q30 prototype spied winter testingInfiniti Q30 prototype spied winter testingInfiniti Q30 prototype spied winter testingInfiniti Q30 prototype spied winter testingInfiniti Q30 prototype spied winter testingInfiniti Q30 prototype spied winter testingInfiniti Q30 prototype spied winter testing
At the beginning of the current decade, the poshest brand owned by Nissan Motor was in a hunch due to its aging nameplates and lack of competitiveness over the Audi-BMW-Mercedes-Benz German trio.

After a model rebranding strategy, as well as a few updates and new models, Infiniti won’t stop at this in its difficult quest towards a bigger slice of the pie which is mostly made up of the previously mentioned three-piece from Deutschland. An upcoming example of Infiniti’s offensive comes in the form of the Q30.

A C-segment hatchback aimed at people that regard the Mercedes-Benz A-Class or Audi A3 as cheap and cheerful machines, the Infiniti Q30 is a luxury compact vehicle, a rather new niche by all accounts. Nissan’s partnership with Daimler saw the Q30 take the W176 platform and use it as its backbone.

As such, don’t expect anything less than 2.0 turbo petrol and diesel mills to be offered when this model will debut in production-ready clothes. A crossover-like Infiniti QX30 will also be offered, with both cars to be manufactured at Nissan Motor Company’s Sunderland plant in Her Majesty's United Kingdom.

Fingers crossed steelies like those fitted to the test mule below won’t be offered as standard by the time the Q30 will arrive in Europe in late 2015, with United States dealerships slated to receive it in 2016.
If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
Full profile

 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories