Infiniti Considering Front-Wheel Drive Models - MotorAuthority

What are your thoughts on the possibility of an entry level fwd Infiniti vehicle? Personally, I think a fwd vehicle could cheapen Infiniti's brand image but then again it's not very high in terms of luxury car brands anyway. I guess I would be okay with it if it is a volume leader that pays the bills for developing the more luxurious and more performance oriented models.

 

Until the current redesign, the TL did really well sales wise. The guy is right, most people don't care about which wheels drive the car. The vehicle is simply a status symbol for them. I'm sure most Benz and BMW owners wouldn't notice a difference or care if their cars became FWD models.

BMW was actually designing a FWD chassis back inthe 1990s for a new small car but they ended up shelving the plan. They ended up using the FWD chassis when they bought Land Rover for one their new cars. Supposedly the 1-Series is based upon that design (althought it's RWD).

Austin Rover Online

 

Last time they tried that we got a compact, underpowered rebadged Primera called the G20.

I'm not saying don't do it; but I hope that they'll at least give it REAL power. You can only lower the bar so much before you end up overlapping the lower-end models.

 

Weren't the I sedans (30 and 35s) fwd? I think they shared w/ maxima . . . sold pretty well i think . . .

 

Yeah the I30 and I35 were just rebadged Maximas.