Infiniti 'could build a GT-R performance car' - Ghosn

Infiniti could develop its own version of Nissan's ballistic GT-R sports car, chief executive Carlos Ghosn has revealed to CAR.

In a four-page interview in the new August 2011 issue of CAR Magazine, the CEO told us about his plans for Infinitis, Nissans, Renaults and more. We asked him if Infiniti could tap into the existing products at Nissan and nab the brilliant GT-R sports car platform for a high-performance Infiniti.

'Are we going to do that, I would say "no", I don’t think so,' said Ghosn. 'If your question is "could we do that", I would say "yes". The idea of using existing technologies on the body of an Infiniti, yes. All the technologies developed for Nissan are available to Infiniti.'

Ghosn's answer is classic CEO-speak. He left the window open, but was hardly concrete with his promise. We'd say an Infiniti powered by GT-R hardware is hardly a priority - they're too busy preparing the 2014 small car to rival the 1-series and 2013's electric car - but it'd be nice icing on the cake.

'Will we do it?,' added Ghosn. 'I think we need to go step by step. We have positioned the FX, the M, the G. Then we have the QX in the US, which is a big success over there – it’s a high-end 4x4. We have the EX. We have the electric car, we have a sub-G smaller car coming and we have a lot of people saying "why don’t we use the power of the GT-R and give it an Infiniti body?"

'The idea makes sense. The technology is here, the platform is here. It’s a great car, the GT-R. Is it a project now? No. But I don’t want to give you the impression we’ll never do that. But I don’t want you to think that it’s coming in the next two to three years either.'

If Infiniti did launch its own GT-R, it could be used to power something like the Essence supercar concept. Now that would be a tantalising way of making us sit up and take notice.

Watch this space, as they say.

By Tim Pollard