Even with no EV planned until 2025, Infiniti boss says brand isn’t late to the electric game

Open this photo in gallery:

Infiniti, the luxury brand of Nissan, doesn’t plan to introduce its first all-electric vehicle until the end of fiscal year 2025, years later than almost every other luxury car brand out there. And that’s exactly what the company intended, according to Peyman Kargar, Infiniti’s global chairman.

“We are coming later, but we are not late,” Kargar said during a media roundtable at Nissan’s headquarters in Mississauga. That was precisely the business plan.

Luxury competitors, including Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Volvo and Genesis, are already selling electric vehicles, but they’re not making money on them, he said. “Today, you don’t see a lot of [automakers] with electrified cars gaining money on these models.”

More than a year ago, many manufacturers were saying they would go fully electric by 2025 or 2030. Kargar purposely avoided communicating that message.

“It’s becoming a commodity to say we’re going to be electrified. We are not late – because the markets where we are today are not requesting electrification,” he said. “[Dealers] don’t want electrified models” because they’re “not competitive.”

He also pointed to the lack of charging infrastructure, the high costs of battery technology and drivers who report having had poor experiences with electric cars (in part for those reasons).

Under Infiniti’s business model, 2025 is the “right time” to make the transition to electric, Kargar says, especially for Canada’s 38 dealerships. The buffer will give them time to transition and install EV charging stations on site, as well as educate staff and customers about electric vehicles.

But Infiniti isn’t throwing all its eggs into the all-electric basket. It will continue to sell hybrids and gas-powered cars in some markets where Kargar said there is demand because “we don’t want to give up customers.” That may change 10 years down the road, depending on whether the technology matures, battery costs come down and the infrastructure develops, he added.

Electrification is going to be the third part of Infiniti’s three-part transformation plan, which executives are betting will boost sales and reinvigorate the brand.

Phase one, which started in 2020, involved restructuring the company.

Phase two, which began in March, includes creating a more sophisticated image for the brand, improving the customer experience and introducing a new design language with a signature sound and scent.

Two new flagship vehicles will showcase the changes, including the next-generation QX80 SUV, slated for March 2023. After that, electrification.

The brand could definitely use some help to boost sales. In Canada, total Infiniti sales for fiscal year 2021 (April to March) were 5,808 vehicles – slightly less than 2020′s 5,848 figures. For comparison, luxury rivals Audi and BMW each sold around 30,000 vehicles last year. Worldwide, Infiniti sold 84,830 vehicles in 2021 – down from 121,704 in 2020.

To transition to an electric vehicle economy, “no [automaker] has enough money to make all of the things they have to do; no one in the world. Even if [they] have billions of dollars, because you need to develop the new technology, the battery, new platform, new regulations and technical solutions. To develop one model, you need between $400-million and $1-billion,” Kargar estimated.

Still, under the “Nissan Ambition 2030″ plan, the Japanese automaker will invest US$17.6-billion over the next four years to electrify its lineup for a cleaner future. The aim is to introduce 23 electrified models for both Nissan and Infiniti brands globally, including 15 all-electric vehicles by 2030. Part of that investment, US$500-million, will go into revamping Nissan’s manufacturing plant in Canton, Miss., to build new electric Nissan and Infiniti models starting in 2025.

Kargar is convinced that Infiniti’s three-part plan is working and will lead to more sales, better visibility for the brand and increased customer satisfaction.

Last year, Infiniti set a financial record for sales, Kargar said. “This year is going to be even better. We want to keep this momentum.”