Photo: Infiniti via Terranismo
This is it - the new Infiniti Q30 shows its Mazda3-inspired styling cues way ahead of its official debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September. Oh, is that a 2.2 d badge glued to the front fenders? Affirmative, but why exactly 2.2 liters?
To be manufactured at the Nissan’s Sunderland production complex, the Q30 and more rugged QX30 are firsts for the Japanese automaker. Infiniti never offered a premium C-segment hatchback/compact crossover, but the Q brothers will change that soon enough. And good golly, underneath that beautiful body lies Mercedes know-how. Plenty of it.
The core idea is that Infiniti approached the Germans and asked them “Hey, could you develop the underpinnings of our future compact cars?” Mercedes-Benz replied with a smirk “Sure, are the A-Class and GLA-Class good enough as a starting point?” And the rest is history in the making. Yes, boys and girls, this is a mildly modified MFA vehicle platform made to Infiniti’s measure, and that’s a-OK with us.
We won’t beat around the bush with the styling. But if you insist, we could encapsulate it in two words: sophisticated and outlandish. Everything from the stiff upper lip-like front fascia to the muscular side profile fits like a jigsaw falling into place, albeit we can see some Mazda here and there. Is it better looking than the A-Class/GLA-Class? Opinions are divided, but we wouldn’t call the 2016 Infiniti Q30 ugly.
About that 2.2 d badge, word on the streets and common sense hint toward engines and transmissions we can also enjoy on the German duo. From the A 160 d all the way to the A 250 Sport 4Matic, we expect the all-new Infiniti Q30 and its soft-road counterpart to be animated by Mercedes (and Renault-Nissan) engines varying from 1.5 to 2.2 liters.
UPDATE: press release added.
The core idea is that Infiniti approached the Germans and asked them “Hey, could you develop the underpinnings of our future compact cars?” Mercedes-Benz replied with a smirk “Sure, are the A-Class and GLA-Class good enough as a starting point?” And the rest is history in the making. Yes, boys and girls, this is a mildly modified MFA vehicle platform made to Infiniti’s measure, and that’s a-OK with us.
We won’t beat around the bush with the styling. But if you insist, we could encapsulate it in two words: sophisticated and outlandish. Everything from the stiff upper lip-like front fascia to the muscular side profile fits like a jigsaw falling into place, albeit we can see some Mazda here and there. Is it better looking than the A-Class/GLA-Class? Opinions are divided, but we wouldn’t call the 2016 Infiniti Q30 ugly.
About that 2.2 d badge, word on the streets and common sense hint toward engines and transmissions we can also enjoy on the German duo. From the A 160 d all the way to the A 250 Sport 4Matic, we expect the all-new Infiniti Q30 and its soft-road counterpart to be animated by Mercedes (and Renault-Nissan) engines varying from 1.5 to 2.2 liters.
UPDATE: press release added.
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