High power V8 engines will die in the near future. That’s the assessment of former Audi North American president and now Infiniti global president Johan de Nysschen.

“The future, unquestionably, is going to see downsized engines and lower fuel consumption,” says de Nysschen. “Horsepower figures are going to come down. The 600hp (about 450kW) engines you see today, which are relatively rare - those are the real top performance cars - those will become extinct.”

And he says Infiniti is likely to be the first premium brand to ditch eight-cylinder engines from its line-up.

“I don’t think that any car that’s on the Infiniti drawing board from now on should expect to have a V8,” he says.

But that doesn’t mean Infiniti doesn’t want more high performance cars. To the contrary de Nysschen admits adding a high performance “halo car” to the brand range is a priority.

“That is something we are acutely aware of and is a crucial element of adding a lot more emotional appeal to the brand,” he says. “It’s the subject of a lot of intensive conversations inside the company right now.”

Exactly what form the new range-topping Infiniti takes remains open because of de Nysschen’s recent arrival and brief to validate the brand’s global expansion plans.

“My vision would be have a car that positions Infiniti in the higher segments,” he says. “This is precisely the kind of conversation product planning guys and I are having. Do you have an Infiniti that sits in the market segment that’s populated today by the S-Class, A8 and 7-Series? Or do you go into something that is different? I might have my own ideas right now... I think, for me, it is a must that we take the brand higher than it is today.”

De Nysschen says the planning is still in the early stages so even what form the car takes – whether it will be a two-door sports car or a “four-door” coupe – is still to be made.

“I think it could be either, we are in the very early days,” he says. “You want to get as much out of any platform you develop as possible. I am really not in a position today to tell you if the next luxury high performance vehicle from Infiniti is a four-seater or a two-door coupe. We are honestly in the process of evaluating that to see what we can do in terms of platform development and all the derivatives you could get out of it.”

But Andy Palmer, executive vice president of Nissan globally, says the company’s recent sporty concept cars, Essence and Emerg-E, are a pointer to what they will produce.

“You’ve seen the concepts of Essence and Emerg-E ... We don’t put concepts out there simply for technical masturbation. There is a reason why we do it,” Palmer says.

Palmer also dismissed recent reports that Lotus would be involved in building any future Infiniti sports car, despite the Emerg-E being based on Lotus Evora underpinnings.

De Nysschen is also considering a high performance division for Infiniti to tackle the likes of AMG and M Division head-on. The brand currently offers a limited range of modified cars call Infiniti Performance Line (IPL) but de Nysschen wants to it be more performance orientated.

“IPL today is a little bit of a performance element, but it is largely cosmetic. I would like to redevelop it,” he says.

“It’s certainly very foremost in our thinking,” he says. “It’s certainly one of our top priorities that I have with the team. I think we need to further cement our position not only as a luxury but also a performance manufacturer. You’ve seen our involvement in formula one, I’d like to strengthen the connection between our road cars and our exposure in that areas.”

source: smh.com.au

wow by the sounds of it the "revhead" is becoming a dying breed! the age of the ricer racer is coming about. god help us all!!

I would have thought that whoever can afford a car with a 450kW engine would be able to afford to feed it.

ill never stop buying V8s. love them to bits.

BS like this is why Infiniti is such a dominant global force. Just getting a headline and free press with rubbish talk. The V8 will not die out, too many euro-marques have invested too much money in new V8's for that to be possible. BMW and their NA/TT 8's will be around for the long haul for certain. V10s and 12s can guzzle as much if not more fuel, but you don't hear about that...

This is just Infiniti grabbing for something to get them in the news.

There will always be fans. Anyway, is it that far-out to consider if cars stopped getting heavier and heavier with each model, we wouldn't need to use so much fuel hauling them around?

cars are getting lighter and lighter as time goes on, and more power is being extracted from smaller motors. the fg is 195kw, and from memory isnt the vr v8 senator 185kw? back in the day a big v8 was needed to haul the falcon plus trailer about, now it can be done comfortably with a 6. in 15 years youll probably get the same power as a current 6 from a four pot. so why wouldnt engine sizes shrink?

Look at an EA vs. an FGs weight...

Car's are "far" from getting lighter as the years go on. Look at a bloody corolla from 20 years ago & one from today. Today's corolla is a fat b**ch! Go weigh up a EA & BA, check the difference. Compare a VN & VE Crappadoors, the VE is a big fat b**ch in comparison.

Yes safety is improved a lot, but at a BIG penalty of extra weight, which hurts fuel economy.

Anyway, the v8 won't die, it will be refined, maybe downsized a little & a little boost to still make big power, but it won't just die. Not until we don't have liquid fuel's or gaseous fuels to burn in them!

Out in the real world, when people actually check their economy, they will find that small engines are not all that economical. On paper they are, but that's it. Hell, my 3 cylinder mighty boy uses almost as much fuel to move 1 person & a small amount of luggage down the highway as my Eb Ghia does with a full load of 5, as well as a full boot load of gear too. Around town, the mighty boy is more economical, but when you then look at fuel costs, petrol 3cyl Vs LPG 6cyl, the Ghia is more economical on the wallet!

Cheers

ToranaGuy

The lowest I've gotten out of my EL on the highway is 7.8l/100kms. Now tell that to anyone and they won't believe it. Big engine = big fuel usage, or so they think.

Cars get bigger, and bigger, and bigger, and then they release a new 'small' car that is the size of the original, now much larger car. Then they start the process over again.

Back to my other point, the heavier an object weighs, the more energy it takes to accelerate it at a certain rate, compared to a lighter object, right? So the heavier cars get, all the benefits of a more efficient engine are wasted on hauling around the weight added by your auto-retracting, 57 way adjustable cup holders, and all the other stupid s**t on cars these days.