Infiniti QX Inspiration: The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

“I thought the sun rose in your eyes, and the moon and the stars were the gifts you gave … to the dark … and the endless skies, my love,” sang Roberta Flack in the heady and decadent early ’70s. Suffice it to say this writer didn’t feel the earth move in his hand upon gazing at the Infiniti QX Inspiration, not did his heart tremble like a captive bird.

The QX Inspiration, like the Q Inspiration concept of 2018, heralds Infiniti’s electric — or at least electrified — future, and it’s a future without a face.

On Friday, Infiniti dropped the towel on its concept crossover ahead of a debut at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. While the concept’s sedan counterpart made do with a slightly more conventional (but still clearly electric) front fascia, the QX Inspiration goes the creepy route taken by some of Volkswagen’s concepts. Much plastic acreage, but little in the way of grille. No grille at all, really. Just some black mesh along the lower fascia, a hood gap, and two vents leading to the air curtain fenders.

Premium automakers like Audi and Mercedes-Benz kept things pretty traditional while crafting their first electric crossovers for fear of scaring off loyal customers. Meanwhile, the always-electric Tesla gave up mimicking air-sucking internal combustion cars and dropped the fake grille on its Model S after the debut of the Model 3. Hyundai and Kia’s EVs also reside in the “less face” camp.

Still, tall vehicle have a lot of space to fill, and, as tall vehicles are what buyers want, today’s trend of absolutely gigantic grilles fits the consumer shift just fine.

Getting back to the QX Inspiration — while Infiniti plans a number of electric and electrified models in the coming decade, there’s no word yet on how this concept generates its power. There is, however, a clue.

In a release, the automaker said the QX Inspiration “represents Infiniti’s plans for high-performance electrified vehicles, offering complete range confidence while signaling a new era for Infiniti design enabled by new technology.”

Complete range confidence, eh? Seems to this writer that Infiniti’s signalling the domestic debut of parent company Nissan’s novel e-Power setup, which we learned last year the company was having difficulty adapting to heavier vehicles. With e-Power, already offered in the Japanese-market Nissan Note, a small gasoline engine running at a fixed speed generates electricity on the fly, which is then routed to a low-capacity battery to power an AC motor. The end result is instantaneous EV torque, low fuel consumption, and the ability to keep driving after actual EVs would have to charge up. It’s also relatively cheap.

As for Infiniti’s timeline for this and other vehicles, we’ll have to wait until the QX Inspiration’s January 14th debut.

[Images: Infiniti]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

More by Steph Willems

Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 23 comments
  • Spike_in_Brisbane Spike_in_Brisbane on Jan 04, 2019

    Infiniti (Nissan) could learn a thing or two about designing an SUV BEV from Jaguar.

  • Scott Scott on Jan 04, 2019

    Wasn’t the original Q a more or less grilless design, I don’t recall it looking ugly, might have been better to use it as inspiration. And those high sides and slit windows have to go,

  • Mikey My late wife loved Mustangs ..We alway rented one while travelling . GM blood vetoed me purchasing one . 3 years after retirement bought an 08 rag top, followed by a 15 EB Hard top, In 18 i bought a low low mileage 05 GT rag with a stick.. The car had not been properly stored. That led to rodent issues !! Electrical nightmare. Lots of bucks !! The stick wasn't kind to my aging knees.. The 05 went to a long term dedicated Mustang guy. He loves it .. Today my garage tenant is a sweet 19 Camaro RS rag 6yl Auto. I just might take it out of hibernation this weekend. The Mustang will always hold a place in my heart.. Kudos to Ford for keeping it alive . I refuse to refer to the fake one by that storied name .
  • Ajla On the Mach-E, I still don't like it but my understanding is that it helps allow Ford to continue offering a V8 in the Mustang and F-150. Considering Dodge and Ram jumped off a cliff into 6-cylinder land there's probably some credibility to that story.
  • Ajla If I was Ford I would just troll Stellantis at all times.
  • Ronin It's one thing to stay tried and true to loyal past customers; you'll ensure a stream of revenue from your installed base- maybe every several years or so.It's another to attract net-new customers, who are dazzled by so many other attractive offerings that have more cargo capacity than that high-floored 4-Runner bed, and are not so scrunched in scrunchy front seats.Like with the FJ Cruiser: don't bother to update it, thereby saving money while explaining customers like it that way, all the way into oblivion. Not recognizing some customers like to actually have right rear visibility in their SUVs.
  • MaintenanceCosts It's not a Benz or a Jag / it's a 5-0 with a rag /And I don't wanna brag / but I could never be stag
Next