When NAIAS, aka the Detroit Auto Show, opens its doors in a week's time, Infiniti will be there with yet another new concept. This time, it's the brand's design vision for a high-performance electric SUV. It's nowhere near as outrageous as the open-wheel retro Prototype 9, or the sleekly asymmetrical Concept 10 speedster, but Infiniti's QX Inspiration certainly looks more relevant to the brand's upcoming road cars.
The design follows along with some of the lines of the Q Inspiration concept launched at NAIAS last year, notably the thin slashes of headlight, the low roof line and the wide front grille shape. Of course, in an electric, the grille serves no purpose other than looks, so here it's made as smooth and aerodynamic as possible without presenting a big blank mouthless void.
Infiniti is excited about the way an electric powertrain can open up a cabin, speaking of "spacious, lounge-like interiors" hand-crafted to follow "the Japanese hospitality principle of omotenashi" with "traditional techniques" and "inspired by a subtle Japanese sensuality." All of which sounds very nice, but no images have yet been provided.
The QX Inspiration looks quite snub-nosed from the side, and will likely suffer an aerodynamic penalty against something sleeker and slant-fronted like the Tesla Model X. It will make up for this sin with a larger than life luxury presence – but if we're honest here, the production Infiniti electric SUV will likely take a step back from this bold shape just to help it squeeze range out of batteries.
We'll have more details in a week.
Source: Infiniti
