Infiniti Bags I35 - - Source: The Car Connection


Nissan's upscale Infiniti division is doing away with the I35 sedan, a rebadged version of the last Nissan Maxima. The front-drive vehicle has essentially been replaced by the G35 sport sedan; Infiniti's products are now rear- or all-wheel-driven. Reuters reports the best sales year for the outgoing model was 2000, when Infiniti moved 39,532 I30s before an increase in displacement changed the vehicle's name to I35.

 

I suppose it was a decent car, but it needed to go.

Infiniti will no longer be shamed with FWD. So, major props!

 

So of course flames will start but lets look at the facts here. Infiniti continuously SHOOTS itself in the foot and they honeslty have no idea what selling luxury automobiles is about.There is no way Infiniti conjures up feelings of luxury or success. Facts:
M30 discontinued
G20 discontinued
G20 brought back 3 years later, another disaster
QX4 discontinued
I30 an also ran in comparisons
I35 disconitnued
J30 disconintued

THat is 5 AUTOMOBILES!!!! Can you spell FAILURE!!!
Current lineup
G35s, outstanding car, no luxury
FX 35/45s, great SUV thingie, no luxury
M45, sells as well as Hadgen Daz Ice Cream in Alaska
Q45, rumors of being discontinued, sells as well as bottled salt water on a deserted island
QX56, it's big, so in America, it will sell, interior=far from luxury.

The new M35/45 is a nice jump and it does have a wonderful interior. But just by badging it Infiniti means it will eventually be discontinued????
Infinitis best car EVER is the G35 bar-none. Their cheapest car. Imagine if the IS 300 was Lexus best car? Imagine the SC 430 and LS 430 were not darlings of the industry and highly respected and wanted? Imagine if the ES was discontineud. Or the LX was discontinued? Would u drive a Lexus?

The HALO effect rolls DOWN not up. Images of success from the SC 430, LS 430, LX 470 and their owners rains down on cheaper Lexus cars. It conjures up feelings of success and something you WANT.

So what is luxury? It's not just adding wood to your interior.......

 

Brilliant post + analysis. I agree whole-heartedly.

 

Man you really are showing your biased attitude in this post of yours, so take a seat and chill a little my friend.

As we all know, Infiniti REALLY has never been a strong holder in the LUXURY area. Like every other Nissan/Infiniti, they are more for performance over Luxury. Lexus is more for Luxury than Performance, and Acura is more for the family buyer for best bang for the dollar.

The G20 was a good cheap car to get with a good warranty. It was out for many years, I would never call that a failure. QX4 sold well, it also wasn't a failure, but its design was getting dated. I30/I35 GREAT CAR for the money. J30, well it was a failure. Why do you think because they change the names of cars and discontinued old models they are failures? Please grow up some. I am sick of reading your posts that are always against any other brand that isn't Lexus.


Also the new cars, M45, Q45. You obviously haven't been in one. The Luxury and Sports Sedan combo in thos cars really make them worth the money. Your comments you made on them are outright false.

 

So, then, do people just hate Infiniti?

Because, if their cars are so great and nobody buys them (Q45, M45), then the only thing that can explain it is that people hate Infiniti (???).

Or is poor Infiniti-winity misunderstood?

Infiniti has serious issues to deal with in terms of market perception. As Mike so aptly pointed out, much of their existence and history is questionable.

It's like the tree in the forest (speaking of that, remember the old ad campaigns?)...If Infiniti makes a[nother] great car, and nobody buys it, should anyone care?

 

Sigh, not biased. The utter truth. I can also admit the ES 250 was a mistake (thank goodness quickly fixed) the 1st gen GS was a miss, not a hit (no V-8), the IS 300 should have initially came with a manual instead of waiting a year. I can say Lexus still has a LONG WAY to go in the prestige department and Lexus is still behind BMW and Benz with no V-12s, no AWD cars yet, no AMG/M models and in need of a 100k supercar to push it to ELITE status. Lexus needs hybrids or DIESAL cars/SUVs to make a big impact in Europe.
So there you have it, some of Lexus mistakes. Lexus just has the management and philosoply to minimize mistakes and they NEVER repeat them.

Would u like me to break down other car makers issues? If you don't like, simply don't read.

 

I don't see any issues with them not selling them. Infinitis sales are through the roof compared to how they use to be. They will never match Lexus in sales and neither will Nissan match Toyota. That is just a given. But the sales are definitely up there and they are selling. There are less Infiniti dealerships worldwide than Lexus, so that will hurt them in the sales area.

We have really never seen Infiniti commercials or advertisements of any kind till recently. So they are bumping up the game I would say. Give them time, they are catching up pretty damn fast.

 

I dont think that will be enough for lexus to succeed in europe since europeans dislike lexus calling it bland and boring with no performance.

 

Good for infiniti for dropping that car. I never liked the looks of it anyway

 

I have to disagree. People need to take the the ES250 for what it was: nothing more or less than a placeholder, but financially speaking, it functioned brilliantly.

It was based on the 87-91 Camry. The 92-96 Camry/ES300 was nearly developmental completion when the ES250 was released. It's not like Lexus created the ES250, realized it was a mistake, then comissioned the next generation. It wasn't like that at all. It was part of a well thought-out strategy.

Lexus sold 60,000 vehicles its first year, many of them ES250s, allowing them to establish themselves as a serious contender by numbers alone. Not to mention the proven Camry platform would ensure questioned quality and reliability for the time.

The ES250 was, in concept, unlike the G20. The ES250 was designed a band-aid, and hey, it worked better than they had hoped. The G20 soldiered on pathetically for years because it was intended to stick around as their entry-level car and, let's face, it didn't cost them much to keep it in production, considering how little it changed during its decade of existence.

At least Lexus can claim they never offered anything less than a 6-clyinder.

 

I agree. Only the IS 200/300 is loved. The other cars they respect but don't like for the reasons you stated. Europe is a fickle market.
Funny but Infiniti should RUSH to get to Europe. I think their sporty G35 and FX 45 and new M35/45 would be hits there barring Europe does not pay attention to the brand name. With the addtion of reliablity, I think they would do great there. Still need a diesal option though.

 

And this is a lively debate. Nothing personal. I think we can all appreciate adults having a heated discussion.

 

That's only because Lexus never really focus on the European market though. They are smart to put their emphasis on the N.American market first when they introduce their luxury brand, being the largest car market in the world, & being able to compete with the European brands on equal footing here (Import vs. import).
Last year, Toyota made more profits than the rest of the industry combined, ~80 % of which came from the N.Amrican market.

When they finally decide to put more emphasis on the European market, you can bet they will introduce models there that's more catered to European tastes(more sporty for example) besides offering diesels & hybrids.

 

Perfecet person to add their highly valued 2 cents. G35 and SC 430 owner. Please chime in. I want to predict he bought the G35 for looks and performance and the SC 430 for looks and luxury.

SexySC, I would like to ask would u pay 65k for an Infiniti? You clearly bought a 70k SC 430 and a 35k G35 (just estimating).