Infiniti design director wants a halo sports car

Infiniti's next flagship model could be a sports car if design director Simon Cox has his way.

'I'd love it to be a sports car,' he told What Car?. 'We're aiming to become a performance brand. Our flagship car should be the ultimate expression of what performance means to us.'

Mr Cox discussed the importance of new powertrain technologies to the Infiniti brand, claiming that even with an unlimited budget and open brief, the car he'd design would be a 'green' performance model.

'Technology is coming, but for me it's not coming fast enough. In the future I want to drive a performance product that drives and handles well, but one that I can talk about with a clear conscience.'

A halo sports car isn't the only potential new model on his mind, though. Mr Cox referenced the new BMW i3 as a vehicle he is particularly interested in, and given that the name of Inifniti's SUV concept car at the show is Q30, there's space for a Q20 or Q10 below it.

For now though, Mr Cox stressed that Infiniti needed to push ahead with its new models in key areas. He said: 'First we've got a lot of work to do to communicate what we are; explaining that we're part of Nissan in the same way that Lexus is to Toyota.'

Offering a smaller car like the Q30 is a key part of this brand strategy. 'Going back three years, you walked into an Infiniti showroom and the cars were all large. The brand didn't really have a good spread – so the Q30 is a very important first step.'

The Q30 concept was revealed today at the Frankfurt motor show. It is said to be about 95% faithful to the 2015 production car. The final design is likely to have its official debut at the 2014 Los Angeles motor show.