Infiniti to leave Australia

The Japanese automaker Nissan has finally decided to lift premium vehicle division Infiniti from its Australian palette after years of depressing sales. The move resulted after decades of efforts to boost sales in the country. Infiniti will be still available in the nation at five dealers (two in Sydney, two in Melbourne and one in Perth) till late 2020 or until the stock lasts. However, the company must continue the sales and servicing support on sold vehicles for the next 10 years through Nissan service centres, the confirmation is yet to come. Further, the company tries to re-allocate the human resource of Infiniti Australia head office to similar roles within the company.

The model was launched in the country in 2012 and so far it has sold 3987 vehicles in seven years with an average of 570 units per year or 47 units per month. On the contrary, Mercedes-Benz Australia sold around 4050 vehicles in June 2019, which means equals to the total sales of Infiniti in seven years.

Currently, the company’s range includes Mercedes-based Q30 hatch and QX30 crossover, the Q50 sedan, Q60 coupe, QX70 crossover and Nissan Patrol-based QX80. This withdrawal is a new entrant in the list of brands to withdraw from Australia after unsuccessful sales efforts in the competitive scenario incorporating 60 brands spinning their wheels for sales.

Infiniti has already declared its plans to exit from Western Europe by early 2020 and drop diesel engines from its range. This brings the focus of Nissan to sell vehicles in the markets of China and North America, where it sells the great majority of its vehicles. It also stated, "The company will place more focus on its SUV lineup in North America, brings five new vehicles to China over the next five years and work to improve the quality of sales and residual value". All these takes, enable the Infiniti to emerge as a top challenger brand in the premium segment.