Former Inifiniti boss, Johan de Nysschen has taken to Facebook to hint at the shelving of the Infiniti Q50 Eau Rouge.
FROM THE beginning the Infiniti Q50 Eau Rouge was in trouble. Sure, the concept looked/looks great and the idea is brilliant; take the mechanicals from a Nissan GT-R and fit it to a Q50 to create a luxury high-performance alternative to BMW’s M division and Mercedes AMG…
But, almost from the get-go the concept hit rocky ground over its name ‘Eau Rouge’ with the famous Belgian racetrack taking out a trademark on that name back in October 2014 (Eau Rouge is the key high-speed corner at Spa-Francorchamps race circuit). And now, former Infiniti boss, Johan de Nysschen who is now running Cadillac has taken to Facebook to pour water on the possibility of the thing being built, according to a report on Jalopnik.
The Facebook post said: “I heard a rumor that Noboru Tateishi is going to cop-out and shelve the Eau Rouge project now that I’m not there to pressure him. Tell any Cadillac or Audi engineer ‘build me a 560hp sports sedan’ and you have to reign them in. At Infiniti, it seems easier to push water uphill. More enthusiasm for ‘driver’s aids’, apparently, than ‘driver’s cars’, in some quarters, it would seem.” So you know, Noburo Tateishi is the boss of Infiniti’s Vehicle Test Technology.
It seems interesting that Nysschen has put this on Facebook following the recent reveal of the Cadillac CTS-V V8. Is it a little bit of sour grapes that the Q50 Eau Rouge didn’t come out will Nysschen was still at Infiniti? Who knows.
