Infiniti Q80 Inspiration grabs for a luxury spotlight ahead of Paris

YAHOO AUTOS

By Justin Hyde @ Motoramic

 

       

 

Infiniti Q80 Concept

 

It's not just Cadillac that wants to establish itself as a top-line luxury car brand. Nissan's Infiniti division has been on the same march for the past several years — rolling out new models, taking over the branding of the Renault-based Formula 1 car, making Sebastian Vettel a "brand ambassador" — with about as much success.

Infiniti will outsell Cadillac this year worldwide, but still lags the Germans and even Lexus in country-club prestige.

This is the first look at the car Infiniti hopes to take that next step with — a four-seat luxury hatchback called the Q80 Inspiration that heralds a more aggressive play for the world's wealth.

It's always hard to get a sense of scale from a concept car, especially with only the single photo released by Infiniti ahead of the car's unveiing next week at the Paris Motor Show.

 Trust us, it's big; at a total length of 198.9 inches, its about seven short of a Mercedes-Benz S-Class, but wider by five inches. The roof is entirely lightweight acoustic glass, and Infiniti says the interior is a four-person cockpit with each seat swathed in various technological wonders.

The Q80 will apparently serve as the template for several future Infiniti designs, and specifically a full-size fastback in the mold of the Audi A7. We'll report back from Paris once we see more — and

 find out just how far Infiniti will go in pursuit of luxury buyers.