Infiniti is finally building its long awaited sports sedan. The vehicle, which will be based on parent company Nissan’s “N” ticks a few other fun boxes too. Apparently it will be a manual, and have a lot of horsepower.
Basically everything a true gearhead would want.
Claims about the new vehicle first surfaced in an interview The Drive conducted with Senior Vice President of U.S. Marketing and Sales of Nissan and Infiniti Tiago Castro at the 2026 New York Auto Show.
During the interview, Castro confirmed that Infiniti was still committed to building its long-promised sports sedan. While acknowledging the vehicle’s sales volume would be low, especially when compared to other upcoming Infiniti vehicles like the QX65, Castro spoke about how the sedan could help Infiniti reconnect with its customer base. Likening it to the success of the G35, which was discontinued back in 2008.
Infiniti has promised a lot and let its customer base down before, notably with the Q50 Eau Rouge and Q60 Black S, neither of which made it into production despite the hype. But the world is crying out for more accessible performance cars, so maybe things are different this time.
Why a new Infiniti sports sedan is important
We aren’t allowed to have fun anymore. Recent years have seen many “affordable” and “fun” vehicles unceremoniously killed off by manufacturers. Part of this may have been caused by attempts to go “all electric” with the gas guzzlers acting like canaries down a mineshaft. It could also just be a straight piece of business, with high-volume family SUVs offering juicer profit margins than smaller, enthusiast-owned, performance vehicles.
Either way, the Kia Stinger, Toyota Supra, and Dodge Challenger are amongst the many entertaining vehicles that OEMs have either killed off or just stopped selling in the US since 2020.
Some previously accessible fun vehicles have skyrocketed in price, too. There hasn’t been such a thing as a “cheap” Porsche in many years now. Corvettes have been creeping up in price, even the Miata is over $30,000 now, and Subaru has killed off the cheaper trim of the BRZ. In other words, if it’s fun, it can’t be cheap.
If you’re a billionaire, things are still fine. Amazing vehicles are still commonplace at the high and ultra-high end. So if you have a couple of hundred grand, you can line up something like a Maserati MCPura, or a Porsche GT3RS, or you may see a Ferrari 296 GTB floating around. At the ultra-high end, there’s an entire universe of electric and non-electric hypercars waiting for you.
But for your regular man on the street, or just anyone with anywhere near a middle-class income who likes cars, times have been lean.
Hopefully, Infiniti’s upcoming sports sedan changes that, and other manufacturers follow suit. Don’t get me wrong, it’s based on a Nissan Z, and Infiniti is the company’s “luxury” line, so it isn’t going to be “cheap.” But it isn’t going to be outlandish either, and if the market is there for fun vehicles, then hopefully they start getting made again.
