Leaning to Infiniti

THE road to the hearts of luxury car buyers is paved with broken dreams. Just ask the Chinese

Infiniti's centre console

WHEN Chinese car maker Geely unveiled its Emgrand GE concept four years ago in Beijing, it instantly became the subject of ridicule.

The huge limousine had just one captain seat in the back, which was funny. But the really hilarious bit was its attempt to mimic Rolls-Royce. The GE concept looked like a poor relation of the Phantom, the million-dollar Rolls.

A Rolls spokesman put on a stern face for the cameras, as well he might. Back then, Chinese car makers had a poor record when it came to respecting intellectual property rights. But the joke was on Geely.

Ripping off a cheap runabout is one thing. But no amount of leather and hide could make a Rolls copy work. It could be as convincing as a Bangkok Rolex but why would you buy one?

Geely must have heard the laughter because by the next motor show it had changed the design. But it's by no means the first car maker to have ideas above its station. I've lost track of how many times a brand has loaded a car up with features, polished the duco until it gleams, then bumped up the price and declared that it was moving upmarket. Even established luxury players can be deluded on this score. Mercedes tried and failed miserably to persuade Rolls buyers that resurrecting the Maybach badge was worth their attention. If climbing the next rung is tricky for the three-pointed star, then what chance Geely?

If history tells us anything, though, it's that people won't stop trying. The rewards are simply too great.

As a car-making nation, the Chinese are following in the tyre tracks of the Koreans and the Japanese. As their industries have blossomed, sooner or later they have been tempted into territory the Europeans consider their own. And when the Chinese or Koreans get ambitious, there's a ready-made reality check in the luxury progress of the Japanese. Its car makers rank alongside the strongest from Europe or the US. But they still wrestle with the complications of luxury.

Japan's three largest makers began the ascent in the 1980s, shortly after setting up factory outposts in the US.

Honda realised that, as its cars improved, it needed another badge to expand its US line-up and founded Acura. However, that dilemma was absent in smaller markets and cars sold as Acuras in the US are simply Hondas everywhere else. It plans to expand into Russia and the Middle East but remains a premium minnow.

With the resources of Toyota behind it, Lexus is easily the largest of the three and has spread its wings beyond the US into all the main markets. In a good year, it persuades half a million buyers and has the front running in some technologies, such as hybrid drivelines.

It's a rare buyer though, who places Lexus ahead of the Germans in the luxury pecking order and, to convince, its cars come fully loaded with fancy kit where the Germans can charge through the nose for options.

"Value" and "premium" are unhappy bedfellows but it's the route being forced upon Nissan's prestige offshoot, Infiniti, as well. It launches here this month as part of a global expansion plan that has already seen it tackle Europe and China. Its goal is to be the No 1 alternative to the Germans and it hopes to reach 500,000 sales in five years, in effect where Lexus is now.

Australians with good memories will recall Infiniti's earlier trip to these shores in the 1990s when it sold something called the Q45, a large rear-drive sedan powered by a 4.5L V8 and costing more than $140,000.

After failing to make an impact on Mercedes buyers, Nissan retreated to the US and regrouped under fresh engineering and a we-do-things-differently approach to design. It aims to shake up the established brands with a pitch to younger buyers who find their parents' wheels just a little staid. A large sedan called M is one half of a two-pronged assault that includes a performance SUV known as FX. Their curvy shapes are unlikely to pass unnoticed and, as well as undercutting the Germans, the engines are bigger and the equipment lists long. A coupe and convertible arrive later and Infiniti has learnt that overreaching sales goals are not the best approach, starting with just three dealers in the eastern capitals and sales targets too modest to reveal. It says potential customers are reassured when they learn the cars come from Japan.

If Nissan needs encouragement, it can look to a luxury brand survey in China, where Infiniti already ranks at 15 - a long way behind the Germans but at least in the game and something home-grown Chinese makers must envy. When another survey ranked the top 50 Chinese brands by value, the only car maker in the list, BYD, came in at 48. BYD, or Build Your Dreams.

Philip King is The Australian's motoring editor