Infiniti managed to impress the automotive world with the Etherea Concept at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show in March this year, and rumor suggests a production version will follow the study’s lines when it arrives in 2013.
Now, thanks to a report from CarAndDriver, we can also tell you it will be based on the new MFA modular platform from Mercedes Benz, which also underpins the next A-Class. That means the production Infiniti hatch is likely to be a front-wheel drive model. The engine range is expected to include both diesel and petrol engines, with hybrid powertrain variants like as well.
This will be the first Infiniti with FWD and it will be put together at Nissan’s factory in Sunderland, in the UK, where the Juke compact crossover is built.
“There are very few mass brands that make that walk into luxury. And there’s a reason for that, which is embedded somewhere within the way the products are executed and in the engineering. A luxury brand will need much better torsional rigidity, much better NVH than you would put into a mass brand. If you have a product that handles like an A-class or a B-class, with that level of NVH, with that level of torsional rigidity, but you can do it at a cost which is closer to where a mass brand would be, then you’re in a very good place from a competitive point of view. And that’s where we’re trying to be,” said Nissan’s Executive Vice President Andy Palmer, when asked why they had to go to mercedes for a FWD car.
This will be the first Infiniti with FWD and it will be put together at Nissan’s factory in Sunderland, in the UK, where the Juke compact crossover is built.
“There are very few mass brands that make that walk into luxury. And there’s a reason for that, which is embedded somewhere within the way the products are executed and in the engineering. A luxury brand will need much better torsional rigidity, much better NVH than you would put into a mass brand. If you have a product that handles like an A-class or a B-class, with that level of NVH, with that level of torsional rigidity, but you can do it at a cost which is closer to where a mass brand would be, then you’re in a very good place from a competitive point of view. And that’s where we’re trying to be,” said Nissan’s Executive Vice President Andy Palmer, when asked why they had to go to mercedes for a FWD car.
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