Dongfeng Infiniti Joint Venture Announced
Along with the newly-announced Dongfeng Infiniti joint venture, the Infiniti ESQ is one of the tools with which the luxury brand intends to continue doubling sales in China on an annual basis
Nissan has announced that it will be expanding its partnership with Dongfeng Motor Corporation to include production of Infiniti in China.
Nissan and Infiniti will each control half of the venture, which will see vehicles produced in the country and sold under the newly-formed Dongfeng Infiniti badge and Infiniti vehicles imported from other markets.
Infiniti China Managing Director Daniel Kirchert has been named the president of Dongfeng Infiniti Motor Company, which will produce vehicles such as the Q50L and the QX50 at Dongfeng Nissan’s Xiangyang factory.
Infiniti has more than doubled its to-date sales in China from a year ago with 18,279 units sold through August. Similarly, Infiniti sales in China increased 54 percent between 2012 and 2013. Infiniti is aiming to bump sales in China past the 100,000 unit threshold by 2018, and locally-produced content is the next natural step toward that end.
“The establishment of Dongfeng Infiniti will realize the extension of Dongfeng Motor Corp.’s value chain into luxury segment while Dongfeng’s leadership position in China’s mainstream auto industry, its well-established brand and social images, and rich local resources will surely help Infiniti’s healthy growth and long-term development,” said Xu Ping, Chairman of Dongfeng Motor and notorious hater of sentence breaks.
With the launch of Dongfeng Infiniti, Xiangyang becomes Infiniti’s third manufacturing location behind the assembly plant in Tochigi, Japan and Smyrna, Tennessee.
Another effort to capture the affections of the Chinese car-buying public is the Infiniti ESQ, which was officially announced at the end of August. The ESQ is, in essence, an Infiniti-badged JUKE NISMO RS that is every bit as wonderfully weird as its Nissan-badged cousin.
Gallery: Infiniti ESQ
The News Wheel is a digital auto magazine providing readers with a fresh perspective on the latest car news. We’re located in the heart of America (Dayton, Ohio) and our goal is to deliver an entertaining and informative perspective on what’s trending in the automotive world. See more articles from The News Wheel.