Q50

Make
Infiniti
Segment
Sedan

What Infiniti really ought to be doing this very moment is prepping a production version of the Nissan GT-R-powered Q50 Eau Rouge concept. Want to play with the big boys like BMW and Audi? The Eau Rouge is how. But until Infiniti gets its act together on this, there have been other promising signs that Nissan's luxury division is worth keeping around. They'd be the recently revealed Q80 Inspiration and Q60 coupe concepts. There's real passion in those designs and it shouldn't be too hard to make them production ready.

Another past complaint was that the Infiniti driving experience was, well, dull. For an automaker that builds the GT-R and that has the Nismo performance division at its disposal, there's really no excuse why Infiniti has this reputation. Before his defection to Cadillac, former Infiniti CEO Johan de Nysschen managed to instill an Infiniti performance mentality, hence the Eau Rouge. The question is: now that he's gone will Infiniti continue with his grand plans? No one knows yet, but combine these concept designs with the right engines and some Nurburgring-inspired tuning, and you've got a winning combo. Here's hoping Infiniti's current management has the balls to make that happen.