Infiniti foregoes Japanese aesthetics for a more global Latin look

Nissan Motor Company is looking to give its Infiniti premium brand a design makeover that will dilute its Japanese roots and flaunt a more "passionate" Latin feel.

The initiative aims to rev up an upscale brand that has struggled to establish itself in a competitive global market for premium cars. Launched a quarter of a century ago in the US with an emphasis on its Japanese aesthetics, Infiniti sold about 180,000 cars globally in the year to March - about a tenth of rival Audi's sales.

Now seeking to attract Chinese car buyers and better compete with established global premium brands such as Mercedes-Benz and Audi, Hong Kong-headquartered Infiniti is quietly scaling back its Japanese roots and, in the words of brand president Johan de Nysschen, "going global".

To stand apart from "cold and clinical" looking German rivals, Infiniti aims to be "a seductive provocateur ... to attract people, seduce, be emotional", de Nysschen says. Infiniti is going "very Latin", he says, noting the recently launched Q50 sedan offers a strong hint at that design direction.

De Nysschen, who was speaking in Beijing last week, wants to boost Infiniti sales to half a million cars a year in the next four to five years, with a fifth of those sold in China, the world's biggest car market. That's a big jump from the 21,000 cars it sold in China in the year to March. For comparison, Audi sold 1.6 million cars worldwide in 2013, including 492,000 in China.

Infiniti's target buyers are independent-minded entrepreneur types who have charted their own non-traditional road to success, says the brand's chief designer, Alfonso Albaisa, a Cuban-American appointed last year to conjure a fresh look for the brand. "Nothing against doctors ... but our target customers didn't necessarily go to Ivy League schools," Albaisa says, adding that the brand's "emotional" new look should be on show in cars rolling off production lines by 2016.