Back in 2015, Infiniti executives publicly stated they could see no demand for luxury electric cars before 2020.
In spite of the success of the Nissan Leaf, the launching of the Infiniti LE at the 2012 New York Auto Show (under a different president), and growing electric brand development from auto-makers, including the ultimate luxury-electric, Tesla, Infiniti remained mum on their plans.
Until now. Looks like Infiniti is going the route of Tesla and introduced an ultra-luxury sports convertible electric vehicle.
Although not practicle, this single seater states they are in the game.
The Prototype 9 pays homage to early innovators in the 1940s and the design team at Nissan Motors Corp. put out a challenge to image what a Nissan racer would have looked like during that time. Sketches turned into design models and from a cross-sectional team of volunteers within Nissan, the traditional craftsmanship met modern finishes and technology.
Alfonso Albaisa, Senior VP, Global Design stated via the netcarshow interview that, ""We discussed the idea of 'chancing' upon an unrecognised race car, hidden away for decades in a barn, deep in the Japanese countryside. We wanted to explore what this looked like, what it would have been made of. Open-wheeled racers of the age were beautiful machines, elegant and powerful and with a wonderful purity of purpose. It's an automotive fantasy, but the notion captured our imaginations enough to put pencil to paper."
From Nissanusa.com, the power behind the Nissan Leaf is a bit different than what's stocked in the prototype.
The Leaf boasts 80kW AC synchronous electric power to it's motors, while the Prototype 9 has a 30kWh high-voltage battery paired with a prototype electric motor not seen in production cars yet.
The Prototype 9 has 148hp and 236lbs of torque to reach speeds up to 105mph and 0-60mph in 5.5 seconds. No real mention of range yet.
The Leaf has 107 horspower with 187lbs of torque with 112 combined miles range.
