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New diesel and hybrid models plus three new sites complete with corporate sales managers will help Infiniti build its UK volume over the next two years, according to a company spokesman.
The BMW 5-series-sized M model will get the 3.0-litre diesel engine already in the off-road EX and FX models in October, while the most efficient model in the range will be the hybrid coming early next year. The firm claims it will at that point be the only one in the executive class to offer petrol, diesel and hybrid powertrains on the same model, although BMW is thought to be planning to launch the 5-series hybrid in the UK next year.
The diesel M will be below 200g/km for emissions, the lowest Infiniti yet. But the spokesman said the hybrid will be around the level of Lexus's 179g/km hybrid GS 450h.
The second Infiniti showroom opened recently in London's Piccadilly joins the first site in Reading, with centres in Birmingham and Glasgow to follow by the end of the year, each with a dedicated corporate sales manager. Chiswick, Hatfield, Leeds and Stockport will follow in 2011.
The addition of diesels, the hybrid and the new sites will push volumes upwards, though still at very modest levels. Since the brand was launched in Reading last October it has registered 120 vehicles, but the spokesman predicted that the figure for April 2010-April 2011 will be around the 400 mark, with that doubling in the following 12 months. "We have been selling an unbelievably rich mix of cars," said the spokesman. "We tend to appeal to a very entrepreneurial type of buyer, a lot of people who own their own business."
"We're only going to launch Infiniti once so we need to do it right or not at all," he continued. "By launching with big petrol engines the strategy has been to position us as first and foremost about performance."
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