Turns out McLaren isn't the only motoring manufacturer with cause to celebrate when looking back at 2016 – unlike the rest of us, who would probably rather forget it never happened. Infiniti, the luxury car division of Nissan, managed to sell 27,200 vehicles last December, which set a new monthly record for the brand. Total global deliveries rose by seven percent in 2016 with over 230,000 units shifted, and while this pales in comparison to McLaren doubling its sales, it set a new annual sales record for Infiniti.

A lot of this growth is thanks to increased sales in the US, with local sales up by four percent to 138,300, while deliveries in the Americas also increased to four percent with over 153,500 units sold. In Europe, however, the jump was huge. Compared to the previous year, Infiniti's sales across the pond rose by a whopping 140 percent, with 16,000 sold vehicles. Infiniti attributed this sales spike to the launch of the new Q30 and QX20 compact models based on the Mercedes A-Class and GLA. A new record was also set in China, where deliveries were increased by three percent to 41,590 cars. Sales also jumped by 18 percent in Asia and Oceania to almost 6,700 units, which also represents a new record for the region.

These are certainly some impressive sales milestones, but Infiniti is still lagging far behind its German rivals which typically sell the same number of cars Infiniti sold last year every month. Hopefully Infiniti can build on this success in 2017, starting with the next generation QX50 that debuted at the Detroit Auto Show this week.