Infiniti Officials Pondering Move Away from Alpha Numeric Vehicle Names
Just as the first Infiniti completes preparations for its newest SUV, the QX65, at its Tennessee plant, officials on the other side of the world are contemplating a big change: ending two decades of alpha numeric names.
Since its creation in 1989 as the luxury unit for Nissan, Infiniti’s sold vehicles with a mishmosh of letters and numbers for names, starting with the G35. In the more than three decades, the company’s rolled through different combinations of G, I, F, and M before the current crop of Qs and QXs.
Now times are tough and Nissan, and by extension Infiniti, are looking for ways to lure buyers back to the brand. Attractive new looks, like that of the QX65, are certainly a start, but consumers are generally not a fan of alphabet soup vehicle names.
Some Nissan officials revealed they also aren’t big fans of Infiniti’s current nomenclature either, while talking with reporters at an event in Yokohama, Japan earlier this week. Ponz Pandikuthira, Nissan Americas chief product and planning officer, expressed frustration with the current naming convention and said changing it is "a work in progress," according to Edmunds.
"Nissan's got lots of great nameplates and they clearly stand out," Pandikuthira told Edmunds. "But on the Infiniti side, since we went alphanumeric, I think we lost. We lost FX, which to me is a tragedy; FX stood for something and it's very clear what it was."
Pandikuthira added that Nissan Americas chairman Christian Meunier is also not a fan "of this alphabet soup that just gets lost, and at some point, you don't know who makes it."
Infiniti’s not alone on the alpha numeric front. Acura offered nothing but letter and numbers for more than a decade, until recently when it reintroduced the Acura Integra. Honda’s luxury brand has also filed for trademarks on the “Legend” name, adding fuel to the fire about a move away from names like the RDX and MDX, although its new subcompact crossover was dubbed ADX.
On the other hands, some brands are never going to change, such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz, but that pair have a legacy the others cannot live up to, and you can likely at Lexus to that list as well.
[Images: Infiniti, Acura]
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Michael Strong has spent more than 25 years writing about the automotive industry. A Detroit-area native, he’s written about everything from local car shows to product reviews to financial news. Currently he writes and edits for a variety of national and local publications. He’s also a longtime member of the Automotive Press Association and the International Motor Press Association, and a graduate of Georgia Southern University. Hail Southern! Despite a love for ’70s land yachts and BMWs from the late ’80s and early ’90s, his personal vehicle is neither of those.
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Infiniti pretends to still exist, film at 11.
So Infiniti started with Q; the Q45 with it's dinner plate front emblem. Then the M coupe, then the I20. After that it moved to the G-series (by far my favorite owned a 2011 G37s).