Establishing a premium brand in this market is no easy task, the established German competition has a firm foothold with premium cars buyers drawn to badges rather than performance benefits. Lexus is a also a good case in point – some excellent product but despite being on the market here for nearly 20 years it still struggles for badge identity – The Mercedes Benz star, BMW propeller and Audi rings all have strong appeal in a premium marketplace. So Nissan’s luxury brand Infiniti has a hard task to gain sales traction – it deserves to do well because its nicely built and well-engineered with some exceptions. A very good looking two-door the rear-drive Infiniti Q60 arrived last year in 2-0- litre turbo form and didn’t excite the market – just 36 selling this year– the recently arrived twin-turbo 3.0-litre V6 however brings scintillating performance to this good looking and chiseled coupe. Linked to seven- speed automatic with paddle shifters and seven different drive modes it sells for 88,900. Cheaper than its German sports car equivalents and quicker than Lexus’s RC350 the Infiniti Q60 3.0-litre flagship is an exhilarating car to drive – a very comfortable driving position, a potent twin-turbo engine and stunning brakes are negated to some extent by Infiniti steer-by wire steering system –with no mechanical link to the front wheels it lacks the communication you expect in a sports model.

On the plus side the chiseled styling and quality of the leather trim, stitching and interior detail is of exceptional quality. I’m David Berthon

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