Start with what the Infiniti Q45 is: a 4-door sedan with 4.5L VH45DE V8, built from 1989 to 2006, in the age of turbocharging and the first electronic engine management. What it meant takes a little longer. The shape is credited to Shunji Yamanaka (1987).
How it came about
The Infiniti Q45 is a full-size luxury sedan (F-segment in Europe) that was marketed by the Infiniti division of Nissan from the 1990 to 2006 model years. The inaugural product line and flagship sedan of the brand, the Q45 competed directly against the Acura Legend and Lexus LS 400, as multiple Japanese automobile manufacturers began to establish dedicated luxury-vehicle brands in North America during the late 1980s. As with the Lexus LS, the Q45 also competed against the BMW 7-Series and Mercedes-Benz S-Class, matching them closely in size. Three generations of the model line were produced. The first generation (G50; 1990–1996) was developed specifically for Infiniti; a long-wheelbase version with Nissan President was developed from it.
The second generation (Y33; 1997–2000) became a rebranded version of the Nissan Cima (a longer-wheelbase version of the Nissan Cedric/Gloria). The third and final generation (F50; 2002–2006) was again derived from the Cima, again sharing a platform with the President. After the 2006 model year, Infiniti discontinued the Q45 as it shifted its strategy towards higher-performance vehicles, with the Nissan Fuga-based Infiniti M becoming its new flagship sedan. In 2013, Infiniti revised its branding, with all of its cars adopting the Q from the Q45 (SUVs, becoming QX), with engine-displacement nomenclature replaced by a two-digit number relative to its place in the Infiniti model range. From 1989 to 2006, Nissan produced the Infiniti Q45 in its Kaminokawa, Tochigi facility.
The hardware
The engine is 4.5L VH45DE V8. On the scales it comes to 1780 -. Drive goes through a 4–speed automatic. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 1990–91: 2875 mm / 1992–96: 2880 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
In the Infiniti line-up the Infiniti Q45 has a clear place: it handed the line to the Infiniti Q70L; the factory was Kaminokawa, Tochigi, Japan. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Mazda MX-5, the Subaru Legacy, the Lexus LS. Its Infiniti stablemates include the Ex35 and the Fx35.
Owning one today
There is no federal ownership record for the Infiniti Q45 — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.