Infiniti's M5 Killer

Infinti's next gen M5 killer looks sharp and modern, but slightly reminiscent of the E36 BMW 5 series. Not a bad thing at all.

The days of high-performance four door motoring is at stake today, it seems. Otherwise brave and ballsy manufacturers are backing out of the high performance family car segment, the latest victim being Mitsubishi, who recently announced that the Evo X is going to be the very last of the manic Lancer Evolution lineage, the Japanese carmaker wanting to focus on greener city cars from now on.
One of the very first of the modern high performance saloons was the Lotus Carlton, in the late 80's. Armed with a 3.6 litre twin-turbocharged V6 engine, the Lotus Carlton changed the face of performance motoring for the next three decades.
One of the earliest pioneers of the performance luxury sedan was from the masters of performance engineering combined with class: BMW. The 1986 M5, when it came out, was the fastest production family sedan in the world, and got that title with just 282 hp. It would kick off a family tree of performance derivatives of basic BMW cars being tuned to an inch of their lives by BMW's M division and unleashed on the general public.
Soon, other Germans would follow, with the British joining the party a little late (other than the notable Lotus, as mentioned above). Audi hit back at the M5 and M3 with the RS6 and RS4, respectively, but the RS4's performance and equipment levels would make it a direct rival of the M5 rather than the M3. Mercedes Benz, forever the sworn enemy of the nutjobs in lab-coats from Bavaria, would respond with the AMG tuned versions of the C and E classes. In performance sedan form, the equipment levels and class distinctions would blur, and each manufacturer would try to one-up the others in any way possible.

In 2009 the Japanese made their entry into the luxury performance sedan market, bringing out the title contender in the form of the Lexus ISF. There have been fast family sedans in the past from the tiny island in the Pacific, but they were all either Japanese spec only, or they weren't exactly polished all-rounders. The Evo and the Impreza come to mind, but they aren't exactly luxury cars on any level. The ISF is getting a face change for 2014, and with its drooping face and rear end (after effects of a little too much botox, perhaps?), the Lexus offers a quirky but extremely capable alternative to the hipster CEOs who'd prefer something a little less tuxedo and a little more sport jacket. Yukihiko Yaguchi san, the madman behind Toyota's Supra, personally had a hand in transforming the base IS into the fire breathing, 416 HP, 5.0l V8 equipped monster in a sport jacket.
Which brings us to what seems to be the latest entry in the mad luxury sedans shelf. Infinitis are, sadly, largely ignored by the business executives and top tier motorists the brand is aimed at. Nissan's luxury arm might not have fared as well as Honda's Acura or Toyota's Lexus, however, Infiniti makes some brilliantly engineered cars which can deliver as much as their German counterparts, if not more.

The Q50 Eau Rouge concept was shown to the world at the 2014 Geneva Auto Show as a body without engine and drivetrain, but now, Infiniti has put a heart in it. The 3.8 liter twin turbo VR38DETT V6 engine from Nissan's halo car, the R35 GTR, has been fitted to the muscular, large (yet compact) body of the Q50 ER, the numbers reading 560 horsepower and 443 pound-feet of torque. It'll also have all-wheel drive. With teaser clips intoning the success of the Red Bull Formula 1 team, as well as testing and direct input from four time (and reigning) F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel, the Q50 ER is not only getting the F1 fans among us to drool over it, but the rest of the automotive world as well.
Infiniti is still mulling over whether to take the Q50 into production or not, but we're pretty sure the automotive enthusiasts have two words for them: do it.