The new generation of Infiniti QX60 is finally here.
The way this car first entered the vision of Chinese consumers is a bit special, last December Infiniti just signed a top star for the new generation of QX60 to be a spokesperson, and a few days later, the top star exploded a big melon and flipped a big car.
According to historical experience, the fact that the car manufacturer found the wrong spokesperson is indeed obscure, but Infiniti announced the termination of the cooperative relationship with the artist at the first time after the fact, and it was announced at 1:18 a.m., which shows that this is a manufacturer with three views, and they care very much about their brand image. This wave of operations has also attracted a lot of praise from the masses, and even some people have said: "I will change Infiniti next time I change the car!" "It can also be regarded as a kind of publicity effect."
However, before supporting Infiniti with practical actions, we may wish to see what CheRujun thinks about Infiniti's new car.
The right QX60?
I don't know what everyone's big impression of the Infiniti brand is, anyway, I personally have always thought that Infiniti is a brand with a lot of personality.
This personality is first reflected in the design, such as Q50, G37, and even the QX50 of the SUV series (including the old EX), QX70 (FX), etc., these models are very characteristic of Infiniti's own faction in design, and have an uncompromising fierceness.
▲Infiniti FX (QX70)
Only the QX60 is an exception, QX60 was formerly called JX, the overall design style is the softest in the Infiniti family, but also in some small details to retain the Infiniti family design elements. But when it comes to the new QX60, it seems to be softer.
▲Infiniti JX (previous generation QX60)
Although there is still a little bit of residual sharpness in the design elements of this car, whether it is in Infiniti or in today's car design style, the QX60 is so unremarkable and very convergent from any point of view. Even the "closing action" at the rear of the side window completely abandons the Infiniti tradition, and is more determined than BMW's abandonment of The Horns (of course, the "Ing-n's Corners" are not as ingrained as the Horns).
Then put together a picture and simply remember the "Ying Corner".
▲ If you can call out the name of each car in the picture, then you are a real car fan, if not a fan of Infiniti
In addition to the design, Infiniti is also relatively personal in terms of driving sense, but I have not driven the previous generation of QX60, as far as the new generation of QX60 is concerned, it is also different from most Infiniti, obviously moving closer to comfort.
The specific situation is that this car will present a strong sense of comfort as soon as it is opened on the road, the shock filter is very good, the sound insulation is very good, and for most luxury SUV buyers, if they go to test drive the QX60, it is easy to have a good feeling about this car.
From the mechanical specifications, QX60 actually has nothing to pursue, horizontal engine platform, McPherson front suspension, even if it is a medium and high-end four-wheel drive system, the official is only lightly described as "intelligent four-wheel drive", probably because there is really nothing to blow.
But I guess people who buy it shouldn't care about that, and in fact, this humble mechanical specification doesn't have a noticeablely poor experience for driving quality. Unless you're going to drive this big SUV that's more than 5.1 meters long to run mountains and corners, but I'm sure you won't, and I don't think you're going to drive it off-road, and the desert.
If I want to say the tone of QX60, I think it is a bit similar to Lexus ES, the car itself does not have a very dazzling high-tech, the specifications are relatively basic, but the experience is not bad. Of course, you would say that ES still has a hybrid system that can blow a blow, so in fact, the QX60 also has something to blow, that is, the VC-Turbo variable compression ratio engine.
In this regard, the two are also very similar, ES 300h that set of hybrids has appeared on many models of the Toyota series, naturally it is not the unique highlight of the ES car, and the VC-Turbo engine equipped with the QX60, which we are relatively familiar with today, first appeared on the QX50 a few years ago, and later "delegated" to the Tianlai body, and also derived a three-cylinder version for X-Trail, so it is not the unique highlight of the QX60. Or the new technology that first appeared on this car. And the 252 hp version of the QX60 has a slightly smaller output than the QX50 and a torque of 376 Nm.
However, the gearbox next to the engine is a new face, which is a transverse 9AT gearbox from ZF. Remember Nissan admitted before that they didn't find the most suitable gearbox for the VC-Turbo engine, maybe the 9AT is more suitable than the CVT?
This gearbox on the QX60 has nothing to do with the word stunning, first of all, it is easy to switch between low-speed 1, 2 and 3 gears, and secondly, its reaction is relatively slow. In fact, for the QX60 positioning model, the gearbox movement is slightly slower is not a big problem, but the problem is that the throttle response of this car is extremely sensitive, especially at low speeds to give oil will be a bit channeled (this is very Nissan), this very sensitive throttle response and relatively sluggish gearbox action together will appear abrupt.
Overall, I think the QX60 still has room to optimize in terms of overall tuning, although that doesn't stop it from showing very obvious comfort-skewing properties. I also think that for consumers who want to buy a luxury brand big SUV, the QX60's personality is in line with their needs.
When you want to buy a luxury big SUV
Do you think of Yingfei?
For consumers of mid-to-high-end models, they do not only care about product strength when choosing a car, but also the brand. This reminds me of the SAIC Audi Q6 we just talked about not long ago, yes, this car is very similar to the QX60, except that one is a special product with a magical style, and the other is a "normal" car that lacks some highlights and the brand is not so loud. If their price and product quality are similar, which one will you choose?
I guess the magic Q6 may still be more popular, after all, it's Audi. Although they are all "Di" characters, Infiniti is really difficult to have any advantage in brand power today. This is mainly due to Infiniti's weak performance in previous years, there has been no new product launch for several years, and there is no sense of existence in the consumer's field of vision, which is a big taboo.
As the protagonist QX60 talked about today, in the performance of space function, it is not bad, as a three-row SUV, can take good care of the second and third rows of seating space, compared to other luxury brands in large AND medium-sized SUVs, it is also an advantage, after all, the body size is there.
But the replacement cycle of this car is as long as 10 years, and it has not achieved "time for space", this car really has no place to amaze the world, and even compared with the previous Infiniti, it has become more ordinary, just a regular replacement upgrade. Since it is a conventional replacement upgrade, why does it take 10 years to replace it?
▲The trunk floor cover plate comes with damping, which is praised
You know, consumers have always had no shortage of choices in the market, although each product has different characteristics, but they can always choose the most suitable one within a limited range of choices. They will not wait for a car that is about to be launched but has not been launched, not to mention that the quality of the product of this car that has not yet been launched is also unknown, it may be very good, or it may make you wait for nothing.
So consumers will not wait for your 10-year replacement cycle, on the contrary, I think that what has been waiting for this new QX60 is actually Infiniti itself. Because now, people may rarely put the Infiniti brand on the target list when choosing a car.
unless......
Unless you live in Guangdong, as far as Shenzhen is concerned, although the number of Remaining Infiniti dealers is very small, the day I went to visit the store, there were still many people who came to see the QX60, one after another, and the door of the exhibition car was busy opening and closing. The cantonese people's love for Japanese luxury brands really makes me look less like a Cantonese.
I also asked the staff about the relevant situation, he said that this car is indeed quite concerned, the test drive on the license for a few days, it ran a small 2000km. He also said that the car is more lively in Dongguan, which is very Cantonese: Japanese, luxurious, big.
But when I asked how the car was selling, he replied slightly unnaturally: "It sells quite well, and there are no existing cars now." ”
So is the QX60 worth buying?
From the overall price range of 399,800 yuan ~ 619,800 yuan, the span is still quite wide, less than 400,000 for this size of the car is also quite affordable, and I guess people who buy QX60 will basically lock the target in several versions within 500,000, so the two versions of more than 500,000, not bad money, please feel free.
However, the QX60 is not like some models of other brands, allowing consumers to freely choose 7 or 6 seats without being bound by configuration.
Three versions with 479,800 yuan and below are 7 seats, and three versions with 499,800 yuan and above are 6 seats, which means that if you want 6 seats, you must at least buy a four-wheel drive deluxe version with a guide price of 499,800 yuan. This could have a slight impact on the QX60's market performance.
▲The BOSE sound with 17 speakers works very well with the quiet cabin, but it is only equipped with a version of 499,800 or more
In addition, three rows of seats, within 400,000 luxury brands of medium and large SUVs, to meet these two conditions, in addition to the QX60 and Cadillac XT6, in terms of configuration, XT6 has a little advantage in active security. More critically, the XT6's current offers at the market terminal can be described as unfathomable, while the QX60, at least as far as I know, is non-preferential and "the price will not loosen in the short term."
So fight for cost performance, QX60 currently can not spell XT6. Coupled with the SAIC Audi Q6 just mentioned, although the price should be cheaper than the Q6, the brand power can not be spelled. (I don't know why these car brands all have "Di" in them, and "6" in their names, which is really coincidental)
Of course, I think that the opponent of QX60 should obviously not only use the size and number of seats to screen, after all, in the main battlefield of Japanese luxury brands in Guangdong, many people will not look at Cadillac or even Audi, so the Lexus RX with similar prices will also be the main opponent of QX60.
The two cars have a relatively big difference, after all, in terms of size, the QX60 is a circle larger than the RX. In addition, if the RX wants a three-row L version, the price has also gone to nearly 700,000, and the price of QX60 coincides with the two-row 5-seat version, and the functionality is not the same. At the level of configuration of versions with similar price points, the QX60 also has a slight advantage. So which car will you Cantonese people prefer?
I think the main problem of the current QX60 is that the price is not loose, as a non-first-line luxury brand model, "the price will not be loosened in the short term" is probably not a good policy, I think Infiniti should still have such an awareness.
Write at the end
The struggling Infiniti has finally "waited" for the new generation of QX60, which is the most suitable for Chinese consumers in the entire brand, but the appeal of the brand in the Chinese market is indeed much worse than before. In addition, the image presented by this car does not have too many memory points to stay in everyone's mind, so it is not realistic for this Japanese luxury brand to rely on this model.
From the consumer's point of view, if you do not resist the Infiniti brand, and there is such a luxury large SUV purchase demand, you may wish to go to see.
Issue 1848
Author: Chen Houze