With the Nissan GT-R’s brutal twin-turbocharged 3.8-litre V6 under the hood, the Infiniti Q50 Eau Rouge could prove to be a truly exceptional car if it is given the thumbs up for production. Either way, Infiniti has hinted that a further three models could utilise this potent powertrain in the future.
While speaking with Motor Trend about the possibility of putting the Infiniti Q50 Eau Rouge into production, Infiniti President Johan de Nysschen said, “You know we have to get the economics to work, which is why I’m pushing the Eau Rouge concept for commercialization. Because once you’ve proven technical feasibility, you can go apply that in other things.
“I think that we should expect to see at least three different car lines across the Infiniti line up that feature that powertrain. You can imagine a high-end coupe. You can imagine a real high-performance luxury 4-seater…and it seems to me a logical evolution to do the new Q60.”
With 560 hp on tap, the Infiniti Q50 Eau Rouge could act as a perfect rival to the 552 hp BMW M5. Nysschen revealed that if it does hit the market, it will probably cost around the $100,000 mark. However, that price tag won’t just buy speed and performance, it’ll buy exclusivity.
“We are probably also looking at 250-500 units a year. So that’s low volume. And we probably have, in terms of my current expectation, only a two-year life cycle. So you have to amortize the development across that volume, and with a hand-built car, you have very high unit costs. Candidly, I assume, the current state of the business plan indicates that we will probably subsidize each car in order to keep it within reach,” he said.
Despite being a work in progress, Nysschen went on to confirm that the car drives very well. However, improvements are needed he explained; “We need to work on shifting speed. One thing engineers are having to resolve for me right now is that the car definitely needs a limited-slip rear differential. When you have any bit of enthusiastic cornering under power, the inside-rear wheel starts spinning. So we need to tame that.”
[Via Motor Trend]
