Infiniti Just Dropped Its First EV: The Vision Qe
On a recent night in Tokyo, Infiniti rolled out a vision of modern Japanese luxury, the Vision Qe, which company executives say is a preview of the brand’s first EV.
If this is what Infiniti’s electric future looks like, sign us up. The photos don’t do this concept justice, but luckily we’re on location in Tokyo to see this machine up close. We can confirm it looks mysterious and elegant, defined by a taught, single fluid line that flows from front to rear. Its design is unlike any other luxury sedan, let alone any other EV.
Infiniti Vision Qe
Infiniti Vision Qe
Infiniti Vision Qe
Infiniti Vision Qe
Infiniti Vision Qe
Infiniti Vision Qe
Infiniti Vision Qe
Infiniti Vision Qe
Infiniti’s top designer, Alfonso Albaisa, explains that the concept for the Vision Qe really started to click once the team began looking into modern Japanese luxury.
“As we began to follow the inspiration around Artistry in Motion, we rediscovered the Japanese expression of “Sho,“ an expression of soaring with grace and power. Our designers began creating forms that, to me, looked like abstractions of a bird in flight – powerful, almost motionless, but generating such speed,” says Albaisa. “The sleek, low profile paired with tapered, yet muscular, rear fenders expresses effortless motion and powerful purpose.”
The Vision Qe will spearhead the company’s goal to electrify the majority of its global lineup by 2030. Alongside the Qe at Infiniti’s New Dawn event in Tokyo was a teaser for the Vision QXe, an all-electric SUV that could serve as the brand’s second EV.
Infiniti won’t be the first brand to jump into the increasingly crowded luxury electric sedan market, so the brand needs to make a strong first impression with this, its first EV. Since the company offered no details on driving range, price, or availability, the design must speak for itself.
The striking front end will be hard to miss, lit up by Infiniti’s new “digital piano key” light signature in a subtle shade of gold, with the brand’s recently unveiled three-dimensional logo front and centre. The hood comes to a point, offering a distinctive shark-nose silhouette.
The digital piano key lights run the full width of the car too, intersecting with our favourite design detail: the light strip that gently arches across the rear of the car, blending into the bodywork above the rear wheels. The precision engineering that must’ve been required to make all of those curved lines intersect in perfect harmony is seriously impressive. Let’s hope it translates to the production car.
The colour doesn’t really come across in photos at all, but the effect is like glimmering mercury, liquid metal. The designers explained the “Shadow Blue” paint is a actually made up of a deep blue base coat with lustrous gold highlights. “The expressive combination of blue and gold hues parallels INFINITI’s recently refreshed visual identity, which is anchored around these two colors,” the company said.
The new colour scheme runs through the wheels too, with their warm gold accents that highlight geometric pattern meant to evoke the tightly-wound coil of an electric motor.
Overall, there were three Japanese ideas – philosophies really – that informed the designers. “Sho,” a sense of speed, dynamism and movement. “Kabuku,” a sense of the extraordinary. And “Sui,” exquisite details that exude sophistication and purity.
If the Vision Qe can make an impression here, at an elegant event on the shores of Tokyo Bay, in the midst of the world’s largest metropolitan area, it can make an impression anywhere. Here’s hoping the team at Infiniti can translate this gorgeous, original design into something that’ll land on showroom floors in the near future.
Learn more about Infiniti Vision Qe.
