Infiniti Insists It Can Make More Underwhelming Car than Lexus IS250
The upcoming G25 will offer an optional "S" package, compete with "S" on the trunk and body kit.
Infiniti has announced plans to put a naturally-aspirated 210-horsepower 2.5 liter V6 into its entry-level G sedan. While several blogs speculated that it might come with a turbocharger, executives for Infiniti were “wary of being too competitive against competitors,” like the BMW 328i and Lexus IS250.
“We won’t let Lexus beat us in the underwhelming RWD sedan category with that IS250″ said Infiniti spokeswoman Lauren O’Reilly. “In spite of them managing to have less horsepower, with 204, we anticipate having a less torquey engine. So even if on paper we’re more powerful, I’m sure we can kill them at slowly groaning away from stoplights.”
The strategy of introducing the G25 — internally codenamed ’suckass’ — will also no doubt open the possibility for Infiniti to jack up the price of the G37 beyond reach of most people. “What we hope is that we cannibalize the G37’s sales with this new G25. Sure, our average transaction price on the G37 was $37,000. With this new G25, we hope to move the bulk of our sales into the $33,000 range,” O’Reilly says.
Infiniti also will produce an unbelievably limited supply of G25s with manual transmissions to round out the press fleet. Magazines and websites expect to test the otherwise unobtainable sedan with a six-speed stick shift, a successful strategy for the Lexus IS250 and Mercedes C300. “Everyone remembers the Lincoln LS, but few people remember all of our comparison tests with its optional manual transmission,” said Al Rollins, road test editor for StreetCar magazine.