Mystery Mercedes/Infiniti Model To Be Built At Mystery EU Plant, But Not At Magna-Steyr
Infiniti’s often discussed future premium compact model will not be built at Magna-Steyr, but “in-house in a European production facility,” Infiniti says in an emailed statement. The car will still “share a platform developed with Mercedes.”
The car was created as part of the partnership between the Renault-Nissan Alliance and Daimler. Infiniti had been looking into third party production at Magna Steyr, but decided to bring production in house. With a lot of capacities sitting idle in Europe, this is a prudent and expected move.
Infiniti says that all design, engineering and development work continues on schedule. It will announce a production location and more product details closer to the start of production. The “European facility” does not necessarily mean one of the Renault-Nissan empire, it could also be a Daimler plant. By the same token, the sister Mercedes could also be built at a Renault-Nissan plant. Stay tuned.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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That car looks like Lighting McQueen's Japanese mistress.
First Lexus goes with the "angry" grille, and now Infiniti. What's with these design cues cribbed from a 1961 Plymouth?
Mongolion idiocy.
Ugh! Gawd that thing is hideous. The obvious attempt at cloning a Bimmer with those bird-of-prey headlights and flowing lines from the front fenders to the rear bussel, is near dead-on M4. Howver, instead of the M4s Joe Camel-esque nose, the Infiniti trades it for Mr. Owl's from the campy Tootsie-Pop commericial. Prognosis? Euthanise quietly by holding a pillow over its mouth til it stops breathing; telling the country Doctor it passed away in its sleep.