Infiniti stretches QX50 into 'new model' - Automotive News
-- One of Infiniti's oldest and least successful models will get a new life this fall when it arrives with an extended wheelbase. The QX50 -- an early entrant into the small-luxury-crossover segment when it debuted in 2007 -- will arrive in September with a wheelbase that has been lengthened 3. 2 inches. The change transforms the QX50 rear seat from one that was too cramped even for children to one that is now comfortable for passengers taller than 6 feet. Now, he predicts, the QX50 will hit the hot spot of the luxury market -- small but roomy crossovers. Randy Parker, vice president of Infiniti Americas, says the repackaging is so significant that the 2016 QX50 is essentially a new model. "And we're going to treat it like a new model," Parker said during the recent Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance weekend here. "We're now working with the dealer body to make marketing money available to treat it like a new-model launch, and we're going to draw a lot of attention to the fact that it's something new now. Last year, Infiniti sold 2,727 QX50s in the U. S. For the first seven months of this year, it has sold 1,614, down 2 percent from the same period of 2014. Introducing a longer. Source: www.autonews.com
