Infiniti has published the first official images of the long-wheelbase Q50L developed exclusively for the Chinese market. The Q50L will make its public debut next month at the Chengdu Motor Show.
Set to become the first Infiniti to wear a “made in China” tag, the Q50L will stretch approximately two inches longer than its regular-wheelbase counterpart, pushing its total length to 191 inches. Wheelbase aside, the Q50L will be visually identical in nearly every way to the Q50 sold on these shores.
The extra space will exclusively benefit the rear passengers. The Q50L will boast plush leather upholstery and a wide array of high-tech features including a state-of-the-art 14-speaker Bose sound system and Infiniti’s InTouch HCI system.
Power will reportedly come from a new 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine rated at 208 horsepower and 236 lb-ft. of torque. The engine will spin the rear wheels via a seven-speed automatic transmission controlled by shift paddles mounted behind the steering wheel.
Following its debut at the Chengdu show, the Infiniti Q50L will go on sale across China in the coming weeks. It will square off against similarly-stretched variants of the BMW 3-Series, the Audi A4 and the Mercedes-Benz C-Class as well as the U.S.-bound Volvo S60 L.
Infiniti is not currently planning on offering the Q50L in the United States. However, the firm is preparing to introduce a stretched version of the larger Q70 on these shores.
Chinese Offensive
The Q50L is one of seven Infiniti models scheduled to debut across China before the end of the year. The other vehicles include crossovers like the QX50, the QX60, the QX70 and the facelifted version of the QX80, the short-wheelbase Q50 sedan and a Nissan Juke-based crossover tentatively called ESQ. The bulk of the aforementioned models will be assembled in Nissan’s Xiangyang, China, factory in order to avoid the high tariffs that the Chinese government slaps on all cars imported from abroad.
Infiniti is doing all it can to catch up to German rivals like Audi and BMW on the lucrative Chinese market. The company’s sales grew by 50 percent last year and skyrocketed by 153 percent in the first quarter of 2014, signs that its efforts are starting to pay off.
August 21, 2014August 21, 2014
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