Infiniti pulls out of the European market and ends production of two models

Infiniti Motor Company announces a restructuring plan that entails its exit from the old continent

Infiniti, Japanese brand dependent on Nissan, has announced in an official statement that it is restructuring its commercial and economic strategy, reinforcing its presence in higher-growth markets and withdrawing from those of lesser significance.

This means that, while its image will grow in the United States and China, the former being the brand’s fundamental market and the latter the emerging one on a global level, Infiniti will leave Europe at the beginning of 2020.

On the other hand, its presence in the local Japanese market and in other markets of importance for Infiniti, such as South Korea or Eastern Europe, is assured.

Measures that, according to the brand, it hopes will amount to a “success for the brand, for its employees, customers and shareholders”. A transition period that begins now and includes winding down licences and franchises and readapting the workers who work in or for Infiniti in Europe.

Likewise, it is guaranteed that Infiniti’s after-sales services, despite not being offered directly since the brand’s disappearance in 2020, will remain guaranteed, without specifying how. It is only recommended to contact the customer service of the corresponding national branch.

Goodbye to Infiniti and also goodbye to its Q30 and QX30 models

In addition, another consequence of this decision is the end of production of its Infiniti Q30 and Infiniti QX30 models, which are assembled at the plant that Nissan, and therefore Infiniti, owns in Sunderland, United Kingdom.

A decision that seems to be motivated from two angles.

On the one hand, there is the spectre of the open crisis suffered by Europe and Great Britain with the also-upcoming exit from the European framework, known as Brexit.

On the other, these are two models created almost exclusively for the European market.

The first, a compact that would rival other brands such as its relative the discontinued Nissan Pulsar, its compatriot the Lexus CT, a model on its way to extinction, or the Volvo V40, a compact model whose production we already know will end or, the only rival that not only manages to hold on but is a best seller for the brand and about which you can read our road test, the Mercedes-Benz A-Class, a vehicle with which, not without irony, it shares a large number of structural elements and engines thanks to the alliance between Nissan and Mercedes-Benz in terms of mechanics.

Likewise, the Infiniti QX30 is a compact crossover that came to occupy the premium city SUV segment, rivalling other vehicles with similar characteristics such as the heavyweights of the segment, the Audi Q3, the BMW X2 or the also related Mercedes-Benz GLA and which, on the other hand, from this very year 2019 would find in the new Lexus UX, which we recently tested, its worst rival.