Future Infiniti Hybrids to Get All-Wheel Drive

Nissan Motor Co.’s upscale Infiniti unit plans to use an all-wheel-drive configuration for future hybrid-electric models.

Most of Infiniti’s current models ride on the brand’s rear-wheel-drive FM platform teamed with a V-6 engine. But that architecture, which was introduced in 2001, can’t support a hybrid’s electric motor and lithium-ion battery pack, product chief Francois Bancon tells GoAuto.

Bancon says the awd hybrids will use an internal combustion engine and electric motor to drive the front wheels, and a separate electric motor in the rear. Infiniti’s new electrified platform also could be used by other brands within the Renault Nissan Mitsubishi Alliance.

Infiniti previously announced plans to electrify all the models it introduces after 2021. By 2025 the company expects to derive half its sales from either battery-powered or range-extended electric vehicles that use Infiniti’s ePower drive technology. The latter uses a small piston engine to recharge the battery.

The first hybrid model to ride on the new platform is expected to be the next-generation Q70 crossover vehicle early next decade. Replacements for the Q50, Q60 crossovers and other FM-based models will be added as they’re introduced.

But Infiniti’s transition away from rwd models starts with the all-new 2019 QX50 crossover, which uses a front-wheel-drive platform. That vehicle is powered by Infiniti’s new variable-compression, turbocharged 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine mated with a continuously variable transmission.