As Infiniti’s “entry-level” car, the G37 and its predecessor the G35, have been pretty popular, and have shown Infiniti’s real mission: a sportier Lexus. Branched off of the Nissan brand, Infiniti has traditionally given Nissan’s vehicles nicer interiors and better accoutrements, while keeping the sporty, fun-to-drive feeling alive. In a not-so-surprising move, Infiniti announced today that they’ll be importing the G25 to our shores starting with the 2011 model year. Click past the jump for more details.
With the G37, you get a lot of bang for your buck: gobs of power, a fairly plush interior, and lots of techno-goodies. With the G25, you’ll get all that, except the power. Powered by a similar engine to this country’s Nissan Altima, the G25 will be a bit slower, especially when saddled with All-Wheel Drive in the “X” model. Other than the engine change, however, Infiniti says not much else has changed.
Of course, with the engine swap, you get a lower price point, making the G25 Infiniti’s new entry-level car, priced from $30,950, not including destination, which should be around $900. Fully-loaded, expect the G25’s price to be around where the G37 currently starts, or around $40,000.
According to the press release, standard will be HID headlamps, ABS brakes, Nissan/Infiniti’s VDC (Vehicle Dynamic Control), and traction control. A “Journey” model adds a backup camera, heated front seats and outside mirrors, auto on/off headlights, Automatic Climate Control, as well as some as-yet-to-be-listed items.
In today’s economy, the automotive industry is seeing smaller engines powering bigger cars, and some of the luxury automakers are finally getting wise to this strategy and are employing it. It’s good to see Infiniti in this plan too, especially if it wants to reach out to younger and less affluent buyers, the ones going more for the look than the performance.
by John Suit
Source: Nissan/Infiniti