Infiniti to become electrified luxury brand by 2021

DETROIT, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Infiniti, the luxury brand of Nissan, will electrify almost all its models by 2021, company executives said at the Detroit auto show opened this week.

"We are now trying to make Infiniti the premium brand and highly electrified brand," Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa told the Automotive News World Congress conference at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan.

All new Infiniti models launched after 2021 will either be fully electric vehicles or "e-Power" hybrids, said Saikawa. The e-Power hybrid system uses a 3-cylinder engine to charge the battery which propels the car.

It is different from Toyota's bestselling Pruis hybrid which uses both electric and gasoline power to drive.

The only exception would be the large SUV QX80 which will still use a traditional internal combustion engine, Saikawa said.

Saikawa predicted that half of Infiniti's sales by 2025 will be fully electric or e-Power vehicles.

The Japanese luxury brand has been under huge pressure to turn green, as its major competitors, including BMW, Mercedes and Volvo, invested aggressively on eco-friendly technology.

By 2025, the German luxury brand BMW will have a total of 25 electrified models on the market. Twelve of them are fully electrified and 13 plug-in hybrid, BMW CFO Nicolas Peter told Xinhua at the auto show.

Infiniti revealed a Q Inspiration Concept on Monday at the show. However, the premium sedan will be powered by a newly introduced variable compression ratio VC-Turbo engine.

"The technology that will bring to that engine is unbelievable, because it combines the power of a V6 engine and the efficiency of a 4-cylinder engine," Christian Meunier, Infiniti global division vice president responsible for global marketing and sales operations, told Xinhua.

"We think that the internal combustion engine still has a lot of potential, and obviously towards electrification, we still have to sell a lot of internal combustion engines for the next few years," Meunier said.

"It's definitely the bridge towards electrification. We believe very strongly that this engine will be a key component of our strategy towards electrification," he added. Enditem