What would the automotive world be without an endless set of teasers for upcoming vehicles (and the attendant websites which report on them *looks around and shuffles feet*)? This time, Infiniti is keen on offering a few creative angles of a new variant of their upcoming jumbo SUV, the QX80.
Ahead of an official debut on March 20, these images show bits and pieces of the next QX80 covered in eye-crossing camouflage, though a few details stand out as clues to what this behemoth will look like on dealer lots. Up front, there’s plenty of similarity in its front fascia to the QX Monograph show car which appeared at the tony Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance just last year. That machine had all manner of slick lighting such as an activating sequence which ran from behind the grille outwards to each daytime running lamp.
It’s tough to tell if this feature is ported to the production vehicle but the upper grille area here looks near-identical to the show car, though the openings just south of the capped strip of brightwork seem more closed-off than the concept. Here’s hoping they are not. Around back, taillights which totally no-siree definitely don’t look like anything from the Mercedes EQ line of vehicles span the car from one side to the other. Our own Corey Lewis, who generally hates everything, may at least appreciate the heckblende style adopted here. Or not.
Also appearing to take notes from the world’s electric vehicles are the QX80’s door handles, units which seem to be flush with the body of this SUV colossus. Other details like the fuel filler cap (read: hard points that are expensive to change) mimic what’s found on the existing QX80, leading one to imagine there’s a fair share of the old SUV under this new clothing. Nissan is an old hand at successfully pulling this off; look to the current Frontier as Exhibit A of this approach.
Through the 2023 calendar year, Infiniti sold 12,696 QX80 SUVs. In contrast, Cadillac sold 41,489 Escalade SUVs over the same time period with the Yukon shifting roughly double that number and Suburban contributing another 51,820 sales.
[Images: Infiniti]
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