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Infiniti is a luxury brand carried by Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., a Japanese automaker. The brand caters to a wide market, which includes the American, Canadian, Mexican, and Middle East markets, as well as the South Korean, Chinese Taiwanese, Ukrainian and Russian markets. Pretty soon, if Nissan’s plans push through, Infiniti will be made available in several European countries, such as the United Kingdom and Germany, among others. Nissan has also moved to bring Infiniti to Japan in the near future.

Infiniti is a relatively new brand, particularly in the United States, where it appeared only in 1989. The main idea then was to be able to sell high quality vehicles that are no longer suited to Nissan’s rather conventional image. Incidentally, big car companies such as Toyota and Honda also came up with their own line of luxury cars, the Toyota Lexus and the Honda Acura, and they brought them to the United States at around the same time. Unfortunately for Nissan, Infiniti did not sell quite as well as expected. Some claimed this largely due to poor advertising because the ads mainly focused on nature instead of on the actual cars. The advertisers might have deemed it wise to bring awareness to the product by utilizing Zen-influenced spots. However, that did not work well for Infinity. On the contrary, it brought more woes than luck.

Fortunately, this seemed to change in 1990 with Infiniti’s Q45, a vehicle equipped with a V8 engine, four wheel steering feature, and an active suspension system, the very first in motor vehicles. The interior of the Q45 is also luxurious. All these enabled Infiniti to provide stiff competition against the likes of Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, the biggest names in luxury cars.

Another vehicle in the Infiniti line was the M30, a two-door coupe which the public had a first view of in 1990, the same year that Infiniti’s Q45 sedan was launched. The M30 was the US version of the Japanese Nissan Leopard F31. It was built with the end in view of competing against the Acura Legend. During the three years of its production, however, sales of the M30 was relatively weak. The M30 had an engine capable of 162 horsepower, which was not powerful enough. It also had only one transmission, which is the Nissan RE4R01A 4-speed automatic with electronic overdrive. Nevertheless, what it lacked in that area, the M30 more than compensated it in its reliability and overall comfort. Still, it was not enough to bring the sales up. So, after only a couple of years, Infiniti was left with no other choice but to stop its production of the M30. To this day, the M30 is considered by many as the rarest Infiniti to have come out in the market.

In 1991, Infiniti produced the third vehicle in its line, the G20, based on Nissan’s Primera. Production of this came to a temporary stop in 1997 and 1998, however, and resumed a year later, in 1999. The G20 was Nissan’s attempt to compete with the likes of the BMW 3-series. Sadly, though, with its underpowered four cylinder engine and small size, it failed to even come close to its competitors.

Then, in 1997, Infiniti launched its version of the Nissan Pathfinder, the QX4. The QX4 was more luxurious than the Nissan Pathfinder, and like any conventional SUV, it used a truck platform, enabling it to compete against the likes of Lexus RX 300, Acura MDX, and the Mercedes Benz ML320.

Over the years, however, Nissan suffered from financial difficulties, so in spite of attempts to come out with great models, Infiniti still could not overtake Toyota’s Lexus and Honda’s Acura when it comes to sales. Even its Q45 began to lose its popularity. Before long, Infiniti was on the verge of death. In an effort to save itself, the company, in 2000, decided to venture in a more dynamic and power line of sports cars. The Q45 was redesigned and Infiniti came out with newer models. The G35, for instance, proved to be a blessing for Infiniti when it was launched in 2003. A sports sedan with exceptional capabilities, the G35 became very popular that it was even named Motor Trend Car Of The Year in 2003. This significantly increased the sales of Infiniti.

Following the huge success of the G35, Infiniti also unveiled the FX35/45, a model which suited the American taste perfectly. Taking advantage of the success of the G35, the FX had roughly the same components as the G35. It had the abilities and performance of a sports car, and the comfort and versatility of a station wagon — a perfect combination. Not surprisingly, many other manufacturers produced similar vehicles, so Infiniti reclassified it as a Crossover Utilty Vehicle (CUV).

These were turning points, indeed, for Infiniti, as not only its sales increased. Its reputation, too, improved considerably, and the person likely to be credited for Infiniti’s rise to fame is Carlos Ghosn, the man with a vision of giving Infiniti its independence. More models will be launched pretty soon. One of these is the Infiniti FX, scheduled to be unveiled sometime in June or July 2008. Hopefully, in 2009, another model will be brought to the public’s eyes, the Infiniti Q. Then, in 2010, Infiniti M will be brought out.

Almost all vehicles of the Infiniti line, and this includes coupes, sedans, and crossovers, use the basic Nissan FM platform, in which the center of the engine is located behind the front wheels. This enables an even distribution of the weight of the vehicle, resulting to a marked improvement to its speed, braking capabilities, and handling. The only vehicle in the Infiniti line that does not use the basic Nissan FM platform is the QX56 full-sized SUV which uses, instead, the Nissan F-Alpha platform.

Infiniti has its main headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, but it is also operating in other parts of the world. Infiniti Canada, Infiniti Europe, Infiniti America, Infiniti Korea, Infiniti Middle East, Infiniti Chine, and Infiniti Taiwan may be visited online.