Infiniti stoked all of us with the amazingly made Prototype 9 concept at this year’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Designed and constructed like an old-school 1930s grand prix racer, but hidden under the sheet is the powertrain from the redesigned Nissan Leaf. So, it is not only fantastic and gorgeous in design, it’s also electric. Well, the spoiler is that the Prototype 9 won’t be put into production, but come 2019, if you can wait that long, you will be able to get an Infiniti-made electric car.
In an interview with AutoCar, Alfonsa Albaisa, Infiniti’s head of design, said the Japanese luxury auto-manufacturer will launch an electric car under its brand in 2019. But we’ll get to see what it would be like at the concept version at the Detroit Auto Show this coming January. He didn’t give many suggestions on what the design would seem like, but he did say it would have some “parts of the old-school [Prototype 9] in a difference context.” Albaisa also assured that Infiniti’s new electric car will ride on its own platform instead of pairing one with the Nissan Leaf.
Years ago, in 2012, Infiniti displayed the LE concept, a Nissan Leaf wearing a far more designed and nice sheetmetal. But if the new concept would have its own platform, it probably won’t draw inspiration from the LE. Perhaps that means the fantastic Emerg-E concept isn’t entirely gone as its five-years absence might have suggested.
Anyways, keep an eye out for the concept’s reveal ahead of the Detroit Auto Show this January.
Source: Autocar
