Every Monday we’re serving you up a delicious slice of pure postulation. That’s right, once a week we’re using our expertise and passion for the subject to predict what motors are destined for classic car stardom. This week, Parkers finance editor and former Classic Car Weekly news editor, Murray Scullion proposes the Infiniti Q60.
Good looking isn’t it? Not in a universal way like a Citroen DS, but in a challenging, robust kind of way like a Mercury Coupe. The Q60 is a two-door coupe version of a premium four-door saloon. A bit like an Audi A5, Mercedes C-Class or BMW 4-Series. Only... rarer.
Y’all see, Americans love Infinitis. But then, Americans love putting cheese that isn’t cheese on things that don’t need cheese.. Us Europeans... we’re a bit different. Maybe this explains why Infiniti pulled out of Western Europe earlier this year.
Infiniti Q60: history
We should really kick things off with a history of Infiniti - as the car brand sold in such small numbers, you very well may have not seen one in years - despite being on sale in the UK for a decade.
Infiniti is the premium brand of Nissan. Think of it like Lexus to Toyota, and you’re about there. It was introduced into Europe in 2008 following a superb few years in North America. In its first full year in Europe (2009) Infiniti shifted 1,344 sales. Not many of those came from the UK. By 2011, sales had grown to 3,603 cars.
2016 saw the introduction of the Q60. It’s a two-door coupe version of the Q50 saloon. The Q60 only survived for three years. In 2017 Infiniti even started building the Q30 compact SUV in Nissan’s Sunderland plant. Despite this, emissions and Brexit would ring the death knell for Infiniti in Western Europe. Infiniti cited that the fleet emissions average of 95g/km of CO2 was unachievable - so it pulled the plug entirely.
Infiniti Q60: rarity
Rarity is cool isn’t it? There’s nothing more annoying than parking your pride and joy in a Tesco car park, only to find the exact same car in the same spec. Car enthusiasts may pretend to like it, but they don’t.
Boy howdy is the Q60 rare. You’re unlikely to find a Q30 in a supermarket car park, let alone a Q60. Very broadly, only 10,000 Infiniti cars were sold in the last ten or so years in Europe.[Text Wrapping Break][Text Wrapping Break]Only just over 950 Q60s found homes in Europe. Howmanyleft reckons only 172 are currently taxed on UK roads this year.
To give that a bit of context, there are nearly 6000 Jaguar E-types registered.
Why should you care?
Owning an Infiniti is buying into a piece of automotive history. We mean, it’s not like buying something hugely successful like a Mazda MX-5, or massively forward thinking like an Audi A2. Neither is it the first of anything.
Instead, Infiniti is a beacon of failed dreams. A brief Foray onto British shores then a hasty retreat. A mere footnote in the Wikipedia page of cars in Britain. Why should you care about the Q60 specifically? Well - it’s the best looking of the Infiniti range. Its lines look like they’re nicked from a Manga comic, making the four-door coupes from Germans look a bit po-faced and serious.
The Q60 is also available with a twin-turbo 3.0-litre V6 engine and four-wheel drive. 400hp helps it along to a 0-62mph time in 5.0 seconds. There’s a 2.0-litre four-banger too, making 208bhp, putting in a 0-62mph time of 7.5 seconds.
Oddly, because these cars were sold in such small numbers, you’re just as likely to find a 3.0-litre as a 2.0-litre on the market. And the best thing about the Q60? It’s deeply flawed, just as flawed as any Alfa Romeo or Jaguar that classic car enthusiasts fawn over. The rear seats are tiny, the low roof makes it pretty much unbearable for anyone over 6ft 2, it wasn’t available in a manual, and the optional steering pack gave the car less steering feel for more money.
Plus there are two infotainment screens - one is flush, and one juts out. The flush one has decent graphics, while the jutty one doesn’t. It’s massively half-arsed and we love it.
The CCfS Classic Car Prediction
Infiniti closing shop in the UK practically rubber stamped its approval into the classic car world. Generally, coupes are more desirable than saloons or SUVs. So expect the Q60 to be welcome at classic car shows before the gargantuan SUV FX, or the British-made crossover Q30.
Mint condition V6 Q60 models will most likely be welcomed to the scene in the next ten years or so. Expect the 2.0-litre models to take a bit longer. Car clubs are already popping up on Facebook for Infiniti models - expect the clubs to become larger and more important as parts become older and more scarce.
Heck, who knows? Car events in the future might even honour Infinti as the car brand that could have been.
