The New Infiniti Prototype 9

If you’ve ever thought, ‘they just don’t make cars the way they used to’, then we’ve got a car for you.

Earlier this month, Nissan Motor Corporation and Infiniti revealed their heritage-inspired ‘Prototype 9’ at the 2017 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. The Prototype 9 reimagines what a 1940s Infiniti grand prix race car could have been, if it had advanced EV technology, and a advanced electric motor and battery from Nissan.

A nod back to the glory days of the automotive industry, and the model was born from a simple question: what if they had made a race car in the 1940s? Senior Vice President of Global Design, Alfonso Albaisa, created a rough sketch of the car he imagined, an open-wheeled racer, and the idea spread.

It became an after-work passion project for a group of Nissan Motor Corporation employees, who took Albaisa’s original sketch, and brought it to life. “They recognised and realised the past, powered by a future-centric electric powertrain at its heart,” said Roland Krueger, Chairman and Global President.

We won’t get into the aesthetics – you can see for yourself how good it looks, with its elegant, long bonnet, exposed cockpit and sleek steel frame. We want to talk about what really sets this vehicle apart, it’s electronic heart. It’s the first Infiniti car to be powered by a new EV powertrain, a 30kWh high-voltage battery, paired with a prototype electric motor – something not yet available on a production vehicle. The result is 148 horsepower, and 236 lbs per foot of torque, with a top speed of 170kph. It can do 0-100kph in under six-seconds, and it looks great doing it.