As mentioned in the earlier post, stylists and management surely paid attention to potential competitors. Below are cars in the American market that were in production during the time Q45 styling was developed. They were selected on the basis of having wheelbases fairly similar to that of the new Infiniti. Their designs are compared to that of the Q45.
Most of the images below are factory-sourced photos.
Basically 1970s-'80s "three box" angular styling featuring large glass areas. The main concession to aerodynamic efficiency is the slanted windshield.
This model remained in production during the 1980s. Its design is even more extreme three-box than the Cadillac's.
Three-box styling is softened a little on this car. It was new around the time Infinity stylists were at work.
In production for most of the 1980s. The Infiniti would almost surely have to compete with a redesigned S-Class soon. And ditto Lincoln and Cadillac. So what should Infiniti stylists come up with?
It turned out that Infiniti's marketing concept was that the car was different. Therefore, features from its primary competition are absent.
It seems that the competing car closest in design to the Q45 was the Jaguar XJ6. Both cars have a lithe appearance and six-window passenger greenhouses where those windows are less tall than on the three-box designs seen above. Oddly, Jaguars were not strong competitors for the proposed Infiniti. Perhaps that's why they were "different" enough to inspire a "different" new luxury car. Oh, and the wheelbases are nearly identical.
At the time I thought the Infinity was about halfway between an XJ6 and a Ford Taurus. The pre-advertising was all drizzly Japanese Zen, but the actual car turned out to be actually more handling and performance oriented than the more Zenlike quiet with more attention to detail and reliability Lexus.
ReplyDelete