Infiniti says it will bring back the stick shift RWD sports sedan

Infiniti just dropped some bombshell news at its annual dealer meeting in Las Vegas. Nissan’s luxury marque plans to resurrect the proper sports sedan with rear-wheel-drive and a manual transmission. Obviously this immediately conjures images of the beloved G35 sedan, except that this successor will reportedly have a twin-turbo V6.

According to the report from Automotive News, “Infiniti Americas Vice President Tiago Castro described the redesigned Q50 as ‘unapologetic and unexpected.'” It also quotes an individual familiar with the car as saying, “The new Q50 is a visceral car with a twin-turbo that screams… It’s not practical, but it is fun.”

If you’re acquainted with Nissan powertrains you’re probably already piecing the puzzle together. The twin-turbo V6 is almost certainly the VR30DDTT from the automatic-only Q50 Red Sport, which got paired to a stick shift when it was transplanted into the new Z. It’s just a matter of putting them in a four-door package.

It’ll likely be a rebadge of the next Skyline, as past G, Q50 and Q60 models have been. Automotive News also writes, “Infiniti teased the low-slung model in a video that revealed a swoopy profile, slender headlights and Skyline-styled circular taillights.” The quad afterburners are a dead giveaway, but it’ also encouraging to know that execs who promised there will be a next Skyline in Japan were not pulling our leg, And, more importantly, that’s not a crossover.

The report says the car will arrive in 2027. That means it will probably be an extensive tweaking of the existing FM platform that’s been in use since, well, the original G35 began production in 2002. By the time it debuts, it’ll be 25 years old, which makes it eligible for historic plates and import.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Newer cars tend to lack the dynamic feel of cars developed when Japan was still coming off the Bubble Era. The bones of the Q50 are still good. What we don’t want is a simple transmission swap on a Q50 Red Sport. That car was widely panned for its cushy ride and drive-by-wire steering that sapped the fun out of what should have been a firecracker sports sedan. If Nissan can shoehorn a rack-and-pinion steering rack under the hood, like the Z does, and re-inject some sportiness into the suspension tuning, this new Q50 could be a winner.

But with the 400-horsepower VR30DDTT as the standard engine, the hi-po variant will have to go even harder. The article goes on to quote sources that say, “A Red Sport performance trim is being considered.” and “the Q50’s engine could be tweaked to deliver more than 450 horsepower.”

This is a shrewd move by Infiniti. It’s been struggling to be relevant. But if you can’t keep up with rival companies, why not be different? And today, there depressingly few RWD manual luxury sedans, only the BMW M3 and the Cadillac CT4-V and CT5-V Blackwings. The Infiniti could probably undercut both of them, offering a new generation of buyers (or an old one longing for a driver’s car) a thrilling driving experience with high bang-buck ratio. The new Q50 may not just revive the classic sports sedan formula, but the Infiniti brand itself.