Infiniti’s first pure electric car will be a saloon

Infiniti has unveiled the concept for its first all-electric vehicle and unlike most manufacturers, has opted to enter the market not with a nine-tonne SUV but instead with a saloon.

The “Vision Qe” - unveiled at the Japan Mobility Show - adopts the brand’s new design language which it calls “Artistry in Motion”, and welcomes the big changes that were originally expected to be teased with the Infiniti QX Monograph concept.

Having ditched the signature double-arched grille, Infiniti has equipped the Qe with a remodelled front fascia that illuminates. In fact, the fascia isn’t the only section that lights up, with both the front and rear light clusters - which adopt the brand’s new ‘digital piano key’ design - also doing so.

Another one of the key new styling cues are the fissures along the side profile of the Qe, which takes inspiration from a single fluid design. In other words, a fancy way of saying that a pre-existing dent can still be made to look classy.

Furthering the look is a set of in-your-face geometric wheels that take inspiration from the coil of an electric motor. The whole design is then completed by a unique coat of Shadow Blue paint, which acts as the perfect springboard to allow the consortium of gold accents to flourish.

Alfonso Albaisa, senior vice president for global design, said: “Our designers began creating forms that, to me, looked like abstractions of a bird in flight – powerful, almost motionless, but generating such speed.”

There’s no word on performance or statistics just yet, and given that Infiniti’s parent company, Nissan, currently only has the Ariya and the Leaf in its electric fleet, perhaps an all-new platform is in the works?

We can only speculate for now, given that Infiniti hasn’t even hinted at a potential release date or targeted price range as yet. We do, however, expect the final product to bear a number of resemblances to the Qe concept.