Infiniti: the iPhone of the car world

Here's an acronym for you: TOE, which stands for total ownership experience. It's a favourite at Infiniti, Nissan's upmarket division, which has been operating in the US for 12 years and arrives in Europe next spring.

The team at the fledgling Infiniti Europe HQ in Geneva like TOE because it sums up their reasons for feeling optimistic that customers who are already spoilt for choice should be pleased to hear about the new arrival. Their thinking is that the cars sold by BMW, Audi, Mercedes and Lexus - and Acura in the US - are good, but customers don't always feel as though they're being treated as well as they'd like to be.

Infiniti is the first major new player in this market since Lexus arrived 17 years ago. That late arrival has given Nissan ample opportunity to learn from other people's mistakes. In practical terms, it means Infiniti isn't aiming to sell huge numbers of cars; but those who do get on board will be very glad they did so. Nicolas Tschann, Infiniti Europe's marketing and product planning manager, refers to them as 'the happy few'.

To put it in perspective, in the UK Nissan sells fewer cars than Audi, and Infiniti will sell only a fraction of Nissan's total. Tschann says: 'Our competitors are making a million cars a year. We can't do that. We are a small team. We don't want to just copy the competition. We have to find our own way of doing things. It's about efficiently spending the cash.'

Carlos Ghosn, boss of Nissan and Renault, will insist on Infiniti getting into profit before long. One way to achieve that is to cut the overheads - so Infiniti will not have national operations acting as middlemen between the European HQ and the dealer.

TOE is about consistency. If you're a customer, in all your dealings with Infiniti you'll feel special. You go into the dealership and you'll notice the same wood is used in the showroom as in the cars themselves. And the showroom is more like a modern art gallery than an old-school car dealer's. The customer is centre stage, sitting on a big sofa, sipping a latte, with the cars arranged around the edge. There's an acronym for this, too: IREDI, for Infiniti Retail Environment Design Initiative.

The day you take possession of your new car, you won't just be lobbed the keys and told it's out in the MoT parking bays - you'll be treated like a celebrity, or like a proud father being given his newborn to hold for the first time.

Infiniti doesn't arrive in Europe until next spring's Geneva Motor Show, when the brand as a whole will be launched and the new-generation FX SUV will make its international debut, alongside the European versions of the G saloon, G coupe and EX SUV. But the first buyers are already pretty clued up about Infiniti, because they're novelty-seeking early adopters - the people who are already bored of their iPhone.

'Early adopters will be seeking something different,' says Tschann. 'We know there are not many of them. We want to please a few people - the happy few. A lot of these people change their cars every six months, not every three years, and they've been through every single brand. They have a high level of expectation.'

Once those first cars hit the road, and the dealerships start to open in a rolling programme involving dozens of European cities, the flair and elegance of the design will lure in a second wave of buyers. That's the plan.

Refinement, safety, comfort and technology are the cornerstones of the premium car market. Infiniti safety features will include a pop-up bonnet on the G coupe, similar to the Jaguar XK's, which enables it to have a great shape while also satisfying pedestrian safety legislation.

In terms of the technology, cars will include Nissan's Around View Monitor and scratch-defying paint. And there's a new 3.7-litre V6 engine that's more powerful and more economical than the 350Z/Murano 3.5-litre unit it replaces.

'Carlos Ghosn is concerned that this brand is positioned correctly. That's one of the reasons we are not launching with four-cylinder engines,' says Tschann. After the V6 and V8 petrols there will be a V6 diesel and, after that, possibly a hybrid - if it can be made to be economical out on the open road, every Infiniti's natural environment. All the European cars will be rear-wheel drive or rear-biased all-wheel drive.

The interiors will be upgraded for Europe. 'Everything that looks like aluminium is aluminium. The buyers don't have plastic in their homes - they have wood and leather and aluminium.'

All of this brand-focused talk and all the acronyms will be worthless if the cars themselves aren't up to much. We've driven the outgoing FX45, the X5/Cayenne rival with a petrol V8 engine. It looks striking, feels extremely well made and comfortable, and it charges off very willingly when you put your foot down. We're assured the new version is significantly better.

The finishing touches are currently being put to the Infiniti Europe line-up, with the key suspension tweaking being done at Nissan's technology centre at Cranfield in Bedfordshire, which bodes well for the ride quality.

'We don't want there to be a buffer between you and the road,' says Tschann. 'Driving pleasure comes from the feeling that you are in control, you are the boss.'

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