Infiniti Turns 30 - Has It Made Any Memorable Cars?

Plenty of good cars have rolled off its assembly lines, as well as some that weren’t quite up to the high standard set by rival models from established brands. In fact, there’s quite a big discrepancy between the brand’s best and worst models, a phenomenon the likes of Mercedes and BMW don’t really encounter.

Currently, the Japanese brand is struggling with slow sales in Europe (where there’s a chance it might quit the Old Continent altogether in the not too distant future), and even if its models are by no means bad to look at or bad cars, they’re not exactly flying out of showrooms.

The manufacturer has had its ups and downs over the three decades it’s been active, but we’ve tried to narrow down the models that had the biggest impact. The criteria by which they were chosen is not necessarily connected to sale success (although it doesn’t exclude it) and it has more to do with how close these cars are to achieving cult status.

2002 - 2007 Infinti G35 Coupe

Basically a stretched Nissan 350Z wrapped in a body that looks more luxurious and is less polarizing, the Infiniti G35 Coupe has to be one of the most memorable models in the automaker’s history. It is arguably a far cooler car than the G35 sedan (which frankly looked nowhere near as good), with more rakish design that is the textbook definition of what a traditional front-engined, rear-wheel drive coupe should look like.

But it was more than just a pleasant-to-look-at face. The two-door G35 had plenty of qualities, the most important of which had to be its blend of fun, rear-wheel drive chassis handling and surprisingly good ride comfort. You really could push a G35 into a corner with plenty of confidence, and it either gripped or let go gradually, never making you feel like you’re about to perish in a sudden tête-à-queue.

Another star of the package was the 3.5-liter V6 engine with 260 horsepower that could be had with either a manual six-speed or an optional automatic transmission - the power output was later upped to 298 horsepower. The engine itself was mounted behind the front axle, giving the car a 52/48 weight distribution.

2008 - 2017 Infiniti FX/QX70

There was something about the second-gen Infiniti FX SUV that made it stand out. Its design certainly made it an utterly unique proposition among its restrained and not very flamboyant established rivals.

No vehicle looked like it before and no vehicle has looked even remotely similar since - its front fascia is probably one of the most memorable of any car that was launched in the late 2000s. Those headlights really made it stand out, and while many people didn’t like the way it looked, preferring the establishment’s more toned down design to approach, there were plenty of people who went nuts for it.

Back when it was launched, its interior quality, its range of engines and its performance in general were decent by class standards, yet towards the end of its life (when it was renamed QX70), it started to be outclassed by rivals in every single area. Even so, one of this model’s last hurrahs was the limited series FX Vettel Edition, the sportiest and most outlandish looking FX ever.

2017 Infiniti Prototype 9 Concept

Infiniti didn’t take part in Formula One racing in the 1940s or 1950s, yet its coolest and most memorable concept is inspired by iconic Grand Prix racers of that era. It’s called the Infiniti Prototype 9 Concept and it was revealed in 2017, much to the amazement of those who attended the 2017 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.

The biggest talking point was that Infiniti’s history didn’t justify the creation of such a concept, yet the actual concept was so cool that these talks quickly subsided. The second biggest talking point was about the car’s awesome design that not only managed to capture the essence of racing cars from the ‘40s and ‘50s, but it also looked modern and very pleasant - it’s the closest Infiniti has ever come to creating a rolling sculpture.

The bad part about this all-electric design study is that it won’t really spawn any kind of production car or even influence the design of future production Infiniti models. It was made simply to show that the company is capable of making beautifully functional and evocative pieces of rolling art. But maybe what the company needed to boost its image was a mad limited-series all-electric sports car with unashamedly retro lines.