Automotive News Canada - September 2017 - v2 - 18

* S E P T E M B E R 2017

AN INTERVIEW WITH INFINITI'S STEPHEN LESTER

Most power grids 'can't handle'
rapid mass electrification

Stephen Lester now works
for Nissan in Australia.
(PHOTO: INFINITI CANADA)

BY JOHN IRWIN

Motor Co. (Australia) Pty. Ltd., effective
Sept. 4. He is now based in Melbourne,
Australia.

MISSISSAUGA, ONT. - A FUTURE
where most new Canadian vehicles are
green and self driving is coming sooner
rather than later, and brands must keep
up to stay afloat.
That's according to outgoing Infiniti
Canada Managing Director Stephen
Lester, who spoke with Automotive News
Canada in August about how Infiniti plans
to keep up with changes that threaten to
upend automakers' business models.
Since the interview, Nissan promoted Lester to managing director of Nissan

THE FUTURE OF ELECTRIC VEHICLES

TORONTO BUREAU

"Maybe 10 years ago or so there was
some question about how long it would
take for EVs. I think we're well past
that tipping point. I think electric
vehicles will come, and they'll
come in very significant volumes and relatively quickly. I
think you'll see some brands
change and augment their

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

New Infiniti QX50 fuses
'artistry' with electrons,
closes segment gap

Former Infiniti Canada
Managing Director
Stephen Lester says
buyers in Canada aren't
asking for a two-wheeldrive QX50 luxury utility.
(PHOTO: INFINITI CANADA)

Volume potential
is 'sizeable' in luxury
compact-utility market
By JOHN IRWIN
TORONTO BUREAU

MISSISSAUGA, ONT. - INFINITI'S
redesigned 2018 QX50 compact utility could give the brand a much-needed boost in a segment in which it lags,
former Infiniti Canada Managing
Director Stephen Lester said.
Lester, who was still in his role
when he spoke with Automotive News
Canada in mid-August, said the "artistry" of the QX50's design and a host
of autonomous-drive features will help
Canadian Infiniti dealers to better
compete against the likes of the Audi
Q5, Acura RDX and BMW X3.
"That's where the volume is. It's
sizeable. We forecast extreme growth
in that segment," said Lester, who
has since been promoted to managing
director for Nissan Australia. "This
car will be a big improvement for us
and will really help our retailers and
help to vault us into the next tier."
The QX50 has long trailed its main
competitors in the luxury utility space
space and 2017 has been no different. Through July, Infiniti sold 1,047
QX50s in Canada. During the same
time, Audi sold 5,668 Q5s, Acura sold
4,462 RDXs and BMW sold 3,393 X3s,
according to the Automotive News
Data Center.
Infiniti unveiled a concept version
of the 2018 QX50 at the Detroit auto
show in January. Infiniti said then
that the QX50 would showcase autonomous features and would feature a
2.0-litre variable-compression turbocharged engine.

DESIGN MIRRORS CONCEPT
Lester said the QX50's design
would set it apart from its competitors
and would draw customers to Infiniti.
Spy photos of the QX50 captured earlier this year showed an exterior design
much like the concept Infiniti debuted
in Detroit, as well as a revised interior
that features a new gear-shifter and a
new location for the push-start button.
"All of the expected design cues are
there, and it's put together in such a
According to Infiniti, the aging
FX70 is being discontinued
because the upcoming QX50 will
be similarly sized, creating too
much product overlap.
(PHOTO: INFINITI CANADA)

way that I think people will be doing
a lot of double takes when that car
starts to drive down the road," Lester
said.
He said the QX50, expected to go on
sale in early 2018, will be sold only as
an all-wheel-drive model in Canada.
He would not confirm reports in the
United States that the vehicle would
be sold with front-wheel-drive.
"For Canadian purposes, it is an
all-wheel-drive crossover. We will
only sell it as an all-wheel drive.
Our friends to the south below the

49th Parallel have different requirements because I'm sure in Arizona or
large chunks of Texas, it's not really a requirement to have all-wheeldrive. But I would say 95 per cent of
our portfolio here would be all-wheel
drive, and consumers aren't asking
for anything but."

QX70 FORCED OUT
The QX50 redesign comes as
Infiniti phases out its midsize QX70.
Lester said the size of the redesigned
QX50, larger than its predecessor,
would make it difficult for the QX70 to
stand out in Infiniti's lineup.
"As the QX50 grows up, now you're
really infringing on how close it is to
the QX70," he said.
Production of the 2018 QX50 is
expected to start later this year in
Aguascalientes, Mexico, where Infiniti
parent Nissan Motor Co. co-owns a
new assembly plant with Daimler,
which is expected to build MercedesBenz vehicles there in 2018. - ANC

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive News Canada - September 2017 - v2