09.13.2011
, FRANKFURT, Germany
The Remarks of Infiniti Senior Vice President and Chief Creative Officer, Shiro Nakamura at the Frankfurt Motor Show 2011
Good afternoon and thank you for coming to Infiniti at the Frankfurt Motor Show — our first time here.
As you just saw in that piece of film, at Infiniti we love curves. I have spent my working life striving to find the perfect line. It is a big part of Infiniti’s quest to connect with people on an emotional level. To express how individual and distinctive we are over everyone else. And to share our passion and inspiration for performance.
That is why this great motor show is so important to Infiniti. We are here in the heartland of the premium automobile to show who we are, what we can do, why we exist – and a little about what the future for us holds.
We do all this at a crucial time for Infiniti. A time of growth.
Infiniti plans to take 10 per cent of global luxury segments by 2016*. At today’s levels that would be 500,000 units. That is a giant step up on the number of cars we sold last year.
The good news for my team is that we expand our global line-up to 10 models by 2016, so plenty for us to design.
Can we achieve such growth? We can. by doing what we do best.
Our best is to constantly pioneer new technologies such as we have done with the new Infiniti M35h officially the fastest full Hybrid available**. Our best is to be bold with the design which takes Infiniti individuality into new sectors, for example the compact class with the Etherea concept. Or, in the USA, the seven-seat crossover JX concept we showed last month at Pebble Beach. Or, from 2014, a compact zero emissions luxury sedan.
And we come to our first Frankfurt show with our full range of cars and crossovers and a glimpse into the future with the Etherea compact luxury concept.
But we need to tell more people about our story and reach new global audiences. In March we announced our partnership with Red Bull Racing in Formula One, a relationship that is literally delivering rapid results for Infiniti.
We were also proud to have RBR driver and F1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel, join with Infiniti as our first ever global brand ambassador.
Having a world champion of the caliber of Sebastian has been truly inspiring…and has lead directly to the car we will show you today…..
Ladies and gentlemen, the 2010 Formula One World Champion and current F1 points leader, Sebastian Vettel.
[SEBASTIAN VETTEL JOINS SHIRO NAKAMURA ON THE STAGE; FOR THEIR CONVERSATION PLEASE VIEW THE VIDEO OF THE PRESS CONFERENCE WHICH WILL BE UPLOADED ON SEPTEMBER 14.]
* As defined by internal market segmentation of 13 competitors both primary facing and from broader segments
** According to Guinness World Records, Infiniti M35h record holder over ¼ mile acceleration run: story to be released September 20