Infiniti Says JX Should Become Second Best Seller; Supercar Closer?

DETROIT – The upcoming JX 3-row cross/utility vehicle in its debut year of 2012 should become a top seller for Infiniti and help push brand sales above 2011 levels, a top official tells WardsAuto.

“It will become our second-best-seller this year, right behind (the) G (lineup),” Ben Poore, vice president-Infiniti for Nissan North America, says in a recent interview here.

Infiniti is not putting a public sales target on the ’13 JX, on sale in the U.S. in March, but the G sedan and coupe racked up 58,246 deliveries last year, WardsAuto data shows.

Nissan’s luxury brand has struggled over the years to maintain U.S. sales momentum, with its best years typically those when the G was new or almost new.

Infiniti’s No.2 model of 2011, the QX SUV, tallied 13,428 units. Other models in Infiniti’s U.S. lineup sell in sharply lower volumes.

Infiniti’s smaller EX and FX CUVs are more “niche” than the “mainstream” JX, Poore says, which hampers their sales potential. Each CUV sold fewer than 10,000 units last year.

Infiniti is buoyant about the JX’s prospects because it is priced “at the heart of the segment, where the growth is,” he says. “It’s right on top, if not a better value, than the Acura MDX… and it’s right on top of the (Lexus) RX as well.

“We want volume on this product,” Poore says, noting the MDX and RX are Acura’s and Lexus’ top-sellers, making up 30%-40% of each brand’s annual sales.

The JX will start at $40,450 when it goes on sale this spring, not including a $950 destination and handling charge.

The ’12 MDX begins at $42,930 sans $885 destination and handling, while the ’12 RX starts at $39,075, excluding an $875 handling fee.

While the JX and MDX can accommodate seven passengers, the RX only can hold five.

The JX will be built in Smyrna, TN, and Infiniti hopes local assembly will keep the North American pipeline full. Last year, supply was hamstrung by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.

Infiniti, currently the only Japanese luxury marque that builds all of its models in its home country, lost at least two months of production following the quake, Poore says. He says Infiniti’s 2011 U.S. sales drop of 4.8% “could have been a lot worse,” considering rivals Acura and Lexus saw their sales fall 7.7% and 13.4%, respectively.

After the quake, Infiniti prioritized returning its G sedan/coupe and QX fullsize SUV to production ahead of other models. Poore partially blames this strategy for the 2-year-old Infiniti M’s 26.0% decline in 2011. Plus, incentives on the car were not as generous as on competing models.

Looking beyond this year, Infiniti has announced it will get its own electric vehicle in 2014 as a ’15 model and is showing a range-extended, mid-engine supercar concept at the Geneva auto show in March.

Poore hints the future concept and Infiniti’s earlier Essence concept are moving the brand toward a production supercar, something that may compete with the forthcoming Acura NSX and current Lexus LF-A.

The Geneva show car has a 1.2L gas engine mated to a battery and electric motor of unspecified size and capacity.

Infiniti also will enter the long-studied compact segment by building a 2014 production version of its Etherea concept, which debuted at last year’s Geneva show.

Poore implies the car will use the Mercedes-Benz 4-cyl. gasoline engine Nissan is to assemble at its Decherd, TN, plant. Last year, Nissan said the engine in the production Etherea would be a supercharged 2.5L 4-cyl.

“I’m not quite ready to go there yet, (but) you do the math (and) it’s a lot of engines,” he says of Decherd’s planned 250,000-unit capacity for the Mercedes-Benz powerplant.

Mercedes already announced the engine will be fitted in the C-Class, to be built at its plant in Tuscaloosa, AL, in 2014.

Poore is mum on whether the Decherd-sourced engine means the upcoming compact will be built in North America. Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has said the new Infiniti model will not be sourced from Japan due to the strong yen.

Infiniti could export the engine from Decherd to an overseas production site, Poore says. The auto maker does this now with the Decherd-built 5.6L V-8, which is shipped to Japan for placement in the QX.

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