Infiniti ready to tackle Germans on their own turf

Posted on Monday 13 August 2007


Following its success in the US and more recently in Russia, Nissan’s premium label Infiniti is now ready to establish a base across the rest of Europe and is going after market share held mostly by German luxury brands Mercedes, BMW and Audi. Infiniti is planning to launch in several Western European countries by the end of next year and is currently in the process of building up its dealer network.

Infiniti’s Chief in Europe admits sales will be slow initially, especially in countries like Germany and the UK. During an interview with Autmobilwoche, Wright revealed that each dealer, of which there will be roughly 12 to 14, is only forecasted to sell 500 cars per year by 2013. Wright also expects the European operations to remain unprofitable for the first several years as the brand establishes itself in of the most competitive luxury markets in the world.

We suspect they could do a little better than this considering Infiniti’s three Russian distributors have already sold more than 7,000 cars since setting up shop last year. Some of the models planned include the recently launched G37 Coupe and a new crossover based on the EX Concept car.