Infiniti Is Reworking The QX80 Red Sport Before Launch, After Realizing It Actually Needs To Handle Well, Too
Making big SUV go vroom vroom is pretty easy for any car company. You just stick a big ol' engine under the hood and then decide where you're going for lunch. But that's not what makes the go-fast SUVs from Porsche, Mercedes, and BMW so impressive. Those things can actually handle, despite their enormous size. So, after Infiniti revealed the QX80 Red Sport — the go-fast version of its own mammoth-sized SUV — it realized that it needs reworking if it wants to compete with the Germans when it comes to handling, too.
Announced back in March, the QX80 Red Sport is expected to have around 600 horsepower. An QX80 Track Spec could have around 650 horsepower. However, it seems that Infiniti wants to beef up their suspension and brakes before sending either car out to the public.
"As we have started to work on the project, we're realizing that power alone is not sufficient," Infiniti Americas chief Eric Ledieu recently told Automotive News. "We know we have one chance at a first impression when it comes to this type of product," Ledieu continued. "When you're paying six figures for a performance-based SUV of this size and scale, it needs to deliver."
It shouldn't look much like the QX80 you see on the road right now, either
The extra development of the QX80 Red Sport is said to push deliveries back at least a year, with the big SUV potentially not due to arrive until early 2028. But Infiniti seems to think that delaying it to get it right will be worthwhile.
"What we were working on before was a very different scope than what we're working on today," Ledieu told Auto News. "It'll take a little bit more time, but that little bit of extra time will be worth the wait."
Infiniti is employing Nissan's speed experts Nismo to work on the project, and it apparently "will not look like" the QX80 you can find on the road right now. It's said to be bolder looking, sharper handling, louder, and should have a 0-60 time of under five seconds. So it seems like Infiniti saw what it had, saw what everyone else had, and decided that its car wasn't up to task of taking on its competition. And I respect that.