Infiniti's made a saloon that doesn't look like one

Exciting news. There’ll be a new Infiniti at next week’s Detroit motor show, and it actually looks pretty interesting.

This is the Q Inspiration Concept, the ‘Q’ presumably being inspired by Infiniti’s usual naming structure. Compared to the usual SUV-like concepts we’re bombarded with nowadays, this one looks much more like a saloon.

Only it doesn’t. “The exterior of Q Inspiration features clear and concise lines and avoids classical saloon forms with its elongated silhouette,” says Infiniti.

We reckon it still looks fairly foor door-ish, but very nice along with it. If Infiniti can bring a saloon as clean and unadorned as this to showrooms, it stands a good chance of being noticed a bit more among its well-established rivals.

“We aim to take traditional saloon architecture to its next stage of evolution,” says Infiniti’s design boss, Karim Habib. “Experimenting with new proportions in an established segment with the arrival of smarter, compact powertrains, the Q Inspiration features a shorter hood and elongated body, with all the benefits to interior wellbeing, comfort and space that this layout entails.”

That’s all the info we’re getting for now, but with some educated guessing we can deduce it’s electrically powered, with the different layout that brings (motors at the wheels, batteries in the floor, etc) allowing Infiniti to play with interior space and exterior proportions like it has.

Of course, we could be wrong. Come back next week to find out. And for now, tell us if you like this saloon-that-doesn’t-look-like-a-saloon below…