Infiniti Q50 Eau Rouge Concept Interview - Designers on Design
Seeing Red with Alfonso Albaisa
You've seen the Infiniti Q50 Eau Rouge concept and read about how the automaker's president, Johan de Nysschen, "absolutely insists" on putting into production a version of the car. Now that you've read our Infiniti Q50 Eau Rouge concept First Look, get the full story on how the concept came to life. Before the concept saw the light of the 2014 Detroit auto show floor, we sat down with Alfonso Albaisa, Infiniti's executive design director, to better understand the car's inspiration.
MT: What was the primary inspiration for the Eau Rouge concept?
AA: At a glance, the main inspiration is our relationship with F1, Sebastian Vettel and the fact that he is champion again and Red Bull is champion again. But also the Q50 is kind of the beginning of our new generation of cars, so we're starting to show these cars; Q50, Q30. I don't think we just want to be brutes. So if you mixed a bull -- you know with the Red Bull link -- with this kind of seduction that Infiniti has, what would the shape be? The Q50 was natural for us, because as sedans go through different kinds of grades, you want to show this beast, even in the Q50. But we also want to see how that can be expressed very seductively. We're not going to give up our DNA, which is a kind of seduction and romance and emotion. That's the long answer [laughs]. The short answer is F1 and Infiniti DNA.
MT: Japanese brands are usually associated with cold technical prowess and efficiency, but you're using a lot of European romance to describe this concept. How conscious is the effort to appeal to European markets with this mindset and the product born from it?
AA: We have a few things happening at Infiniti, including continuity of our history. Even from the beginning with let's say, the FX especially, the first one, it's kind of a rogue in a suit. That's the term we use internally in Hong Kong. Infiniti is a Japanese brand, a very proudly Japanese brand, but our headquarters is in Hong Kong because that's kind of a gateway between the west and the east and all the intellectual properties are flowing back and forth. There's money, in and out, emotions and contradictions. So Infiniti I don't think is purely Japanese. We are proud to be Japanese, but there are a lot of characters like myself, and Johan in key positions, so our natural dispositions come out. When Johan speaks he waves his hands and clutches them almost like an Italian guy! His love is to make cars, cars that will go head to head with the German Three, but doesn't follow them. With his previous job experience, you would think he'd say 'I have the recipe for success, just follow it.' That's not Johan. He wants to create this near Latin emotion, with your heart beating in front of your brain. But the brain is still the intelligence of the car and that foundation is a must. So I feel Johan is quite European. I myself am Cuban-American. The cars are engineered and designed in Japan and London and China. So Infiniti is all of these cultures in one. Which is different than Lexus. One can say Lexus -- which is a great brand -- is probably more Japanese than we are. We are a little darker than pure Japanese. Again, the FX, the first time I saw the sketch, it looked like a criminal! And I think for me, I embrace this aspect, of this kind of darker character beneath this beautifully silky skin. I think we're bringing that to the Q50 today with the Eau Rouge. Underneath the beautiful skin, there is a beast, lurking just underneath.
MT: Speaking of a beast lurking underneath, you pointed out there are two inlets on the hood of the Eau Rouge that are in a strikingly similar placement to the NACA ducts on the hood of the GT-R. Are these indicative of what may be powering the Eau Rouge?
