Auto News:Infiniti prepares to enter 2.0-turbo fight

[mikeavelli]

http://www.autonews.com/article/201...er-2-0-turbo-fight?cciid=email-autonews-daily

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- Infiniti will be able to stand nose-to-nose with some of its bigger competitors in five months with one of the luxury segment’s hottest features -- a small turbo-charged engine.

In December, Infiniti will begin sourcing Daimler-designed 2.0-liter four-cylinder turbocharged engines from its year-old powertrain plant in Decherd, Tenn.

Those engines will be shipped to Japan, where they will be installed into Q50 sedans that will be exported back to U.S. retailers, starting in January.

“It will give us a powerful new engine to make us competitive at a price point where we’re not active now,” says Randy Parker, Infiniti Americas vice president.

The engine will pit the Q50, the brand’s highest demand vehicle, directly against the Lexus IS200t, and the BMW 320i.

Parker says the luxury market has moved into small turbocharged engines as a way to offer shoppers a less expensive option.

Infiniti has not announced the price for the new four-cylinder-equipped Q50 yet. The Q50’s current engine -- a 3.7-liter V-6 -- will probably remain the sedan’s main engine, Parker predicts.

“But being able to offer a less expensive option will be a new tool for us,” he says. “There are consumers who are eager to defect from mass-market brands and to step up into a luxury brand like Infiniti. If we can make it a slightly smaller step up, many more of them will be able to make it work.”

For the first seven months of 2015, Infiniti sold 24,207 Q50s in the U.S., up 18 percent from the same period a year ago.

Larry Zinn, general manager of Warren Henry Infiniti in Miami, says the smaller engine option will give retailers a chance to appeal to customers with the same features the competition has.

“We’ve been wanting this for a long time,” Zinn says. “It’s good to be able to offer a customer a choice, and we’ll be able to do that now.”

 

[mikeavelli]

No secret the Benz engine was coming here. Crazy to think they have to ship it here to Japan to install.

My bud Larry Zinn was quoted in the article!

 

[mmcartalk]

Looks like the 2.0L turbo in-line 4 (from a number of manufacturers) is fast becoming the modern equivalent of the small-block Chevy V8 of half a century ago.

 

[IS-SV]

If they had to pick a 2.0l turbo for their premium car application, the Mercedes version should be a good safe choice. These premium turbo4's continue to surprise me (in actual driving) when compared to relatively crude and slow NA 4 bangers offered by the regular brand automakers. Makes for a great base engine.

 

[CIF]

No secret the Benz engine was coming here. Crazy to think they have to ship it here to Japan to install.

My bud Larry Zinn was quoted in the article!

I have a headache just trying to think of a logical reason for the logistics hassle of this all.

So a Benz engine design, given to Infiniti as part of the Renault-Nissan-Benz alliance, will be built at a US plant. Then it will be sent to Japan to be installed in Japanese-made Infiniti vehicles. Then those vehicles will be shipped back to the US to be sold.

 

[mmcartalk]

I have a headache just trying to think of a logical reason for the logistics hassle of this all.

So a Benz engine design, given to Infiniti as part of the Renault-Nissan-Benz alliance, will be built at a US plant. Then it will be sent to Japan to be installed in Japanese-made Infiniti vehicles. Then those vehicles will be shipped back to the US to be sold.

Yep, and that may defeat part of the very reason for globalizing the industry.....efficiency. It costs money to ship partly-assembled vehicle components, particularly large ones like engines/transmissions, back and forth between different countries, plants, and markets. Sometimes it CAN be done efficiently, but has also led to some spectacular fails........probably most noteworthy that of the Chrysler Maserati TC.