Nissan’s luxury brand reportedly revealed some surprising information at a recent dealer conference in Las Vegas.
Infiniti is an all-SUV brand after the Q50 sedan’s unceremonious end last year — but that may not be the case for much longer. In fact, a recent dealer meeting gave us a tasty morsel to chew on: the brand’s defunct four-door sport sedan could soon be resurrected. And as an enthusiast, the best part is not just that it’s coming back, but that it’s going to have a 400-horsepower twin-turbo V6 and a manual transmission. Hallelujah!
At least, that’s what the #savethemanuals part of my brain is crying out. Now, the Infiniti Q50 already had a version of that V6 engine already, called the Red Sport. The VR30DDTT powertrain is also still available in the Nissan Z, so it’s totally plausible Infiniti could just reboot production on that front. While the Q50 went out of production for global markets, the Japanese Nissan Skyline upon which it’s based didn’t…so this car technically still exists. And thanks to the Z, the company already has the means to pair this engine up with a manual transmission. Practically speaking, it may be fairly straightforward to bring a manual Q50S back to life.
But why? Well, Automotive News quoted Infiniti Americas vice president Tiago Castro in saying this new Q50 would be “unapologetic and unexpected”. The piece further elaborated on a video that showed a low-slung model with a “swoopy profile, slender headlights and Skyline-styled circular taillights” (think R34 and you’ll get an idea of what to expect).
On one hand, there’s a reason Infiniti cancelled the Q50 in the first place: It didn’t sell. Automakers have broadly pivoted away from sedans (even sports sedans, as Acura is now doing with the TLX) in favor of SUVs. In terms of actual sales volume, giving it a manual further narrows your scope, to the point where there’s less than a handful of four-door options still sporting a three-pedal option (though, admittedly, Acura is keeping such an option around with the Integra, to say little of Honda’s other options). Cadillac also still has a manual in its Blackwing models.
However, on the other hand…it does give Infiniti something to distinguish itself from the competition — something it’s been struggling to do over the years. With the recent environment being more welcoming toward relatively old-school internal combustion engines, perhaps the automaker is deciding to make hay and have a cool car as its halo to bring folks back into the fold. Again, as an enthusiast, I love it, but we’ll have to see how this pans out long-term, if it does indeed happen after all.
Provided Infiniti does make the investment to reboot the Q50S as a manual sports car, and it sounds at the moment like it will, we can expect to see a new model sometime in late 2027.
