Infiniti Q80 Inspiration

WHAT IS IT?
A four seat, four door fastback saloon as vast as it is blingy. The Q80 (named, TG presumes, for the nationality of its likely buyers) measures 520 cm from bow to stern, putting it within just a few centimetres of a Jaguar XJ.

Under the Q80’s long bonnet is a 550bhp hybrid arrangement, a 440 bhp twin turbo V6 petrol supplemented with electric motors. The Q80 remains rear-drive in everyday driving, with power pushed to the front wheels if required. Behind clap hand doors, there lurks naturellement a swoopy interior of much leather, Alcantara and hi-res info screens, while a friendly variant on the current raft of auto driving tech gently suggests to the driver what might be the best course of action to take.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN ?
The Q80 might look like traditional high concept fare, but Infiniti is surprisingly serious about bringing it to production in largely unchanged form. Infiniti designer Simon Cox tells Top Gear that the frm will enter the big car segment think BMW 7-Series and Merc S-Class “ in three to five years”, a productionised version of this car planned as its range-topper.

It'll likely lose those reverse hingeing rear doors, but won't be slow. Infiniti's  Europe boss, François Goupil de Bouillé, says the production Q80 should be capable of 0–62 mph in under four seconds. “It will have the highest performance in its segment,”  he warns. Watch out, Panamera Turbo…