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Running a luxury brand used to be simple. Tart up a few mass-market sedans with leather interiors and power accessories, slap on a big hood ornament, jack the price through the roof, then sit back and watch the gravy train flow. These days it couldn’t be more different. You need dedicated luxury platforms and halo cars and marketing tie-ins. And if you really want to be taken seriously among the cognoscenti, you need an in-house performance tuner to craft your own AMG or M-series line of cars.

Which brings us to Infiniti, the formerly North American-only luxury brand. It has been going toe-to-toe with Mercedes and BMW in some product segments for years, but with aspirations of competing with the big two luxury marques globally, it needs to put some muscle behind its nascent Infiniti Performance Line brand. So that 414-horsepower Infiniti FX Sebastian Vettel Version you saw at Frankfurt? Yep, it’s coming, according to an interview with Nissan Executive Vice President Andy Palmer on the company’s corporate blog. And although it won’t necessarily be branded an IPL car, Palmer says the Vettel FX will serve as a pilot, to prove that Infiniti can sell “low-volume, very special versions, and be able to charge a premium.”

Vettel took his second straight Formula 1 title with a victory in Japan this weekend, and Infiniti might as well capitalize on its marketing partnership with Red Bull Racing. You don’t spend upwards of million on a racing deal if you’re not going to use it to sell cars. Of course, Vettel is hardly a celebrity in the U.S., so we’ll have to wait to hear some official word about North American plans. “Right now,” Nissan PR told us, “it is still simply a concept.”

Watch the entire interview with Palmer after the jump.

Continue reading Infiniti FX Sebastian Vettel Version approved for production, may result in AMG-like tuning arm

Infiniti FX Sebastian Vettel Version approved for production, may result in AMG-like tuning arm originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 10 Oct 2011 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Infiniti FX has always been a bit of a wild child in the premium crossover segment. It has a polarizing exterior style, and it’s capable of reaching illegal speeds rather quickly. Infiniti has partnered up with Formula One racer Sebastian Vettel to make it even more extreme, and the result is the (rather blandly named) Infiniti FX Sebastian Vettel Version.

What does it take for a F1 star to apply his moniker to anything other than a sports car? Money. Serious upgrades to the overall performance of the vehicle. Vettel worked with Infiniti engineers to transform the FX50 into a lower, sleeker machine. The vehicle sits 20 millimeters lower and wears aero bits that help improve its coefficient of drag by 30 percent.

Those changes are rather welcome because Vettel wanted the FX bearing his name to hit a pretty impressive speed target. The goal was 300 kilometers per hour (186 miles per hour), and this Infiniti FX Vettel Version is capable of achieving that mark.

Engineers were able to squeeze an additional 30 horsepower out of the 5.0-liter V8, bringing total output up to 414 horses. This was done by way of a new exhaust system and reflashing the the engine’s computer. Still, 186 mph is a tough task for a bulky vehicle like the FX, so taller gearing was called for. Despite this, Infiniti says the Vettel FX manages to run from 0-60 miles per hour quicker than the standard FX50.

For the moment, the special FX is considered a concept car, though the rumormill has suggested for some time that Infiniti is working toward premium performance models with their cohorts from Red Bull Racing, so a production derivative isn’t entirely out of the question. Read more about the Infiniti FX Sebastian Vettel Version by checking out the full press release posted after the jump.

Continue reading Infiniti FX Sebastian Vettel Version unveiled by… Sebastian Vettel

Infiniti FX Sebastian Vettel Version unveiled by… Sebastian Vettel originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 13 Sep 2011 17:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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