Infiniti Is Back: QX65 SUV Fuels Brand Turnaround

With the all-new QX65 about to hit showrooms, a high-performance sports sedan in the works, and a sales comeback built on just two vehicles, Infiniti is on a roll. It also has a dealer network that is fired up.

Eric Ladieu, the recently named VP of Infiniti Americas, has been around long enough to feel the weight of this moment, and new enough in his current role to be genuinely energized by it. He started his career with the brand, worked through related roles at Nissan over the years, and slid into his post as VP of Infiniti for the Americas about two months before sitting down with us in Nashville at the launch of the QX65.

“New role, yes, new title, but same team and same direction,” Ladieu said. He walked into a plan already in motion, a strategy already set. His job is to keep pushing it forward, and right now that means getting the QX65 into the hands of buyers.

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A Comeback Built on Product

To really get why the QX65 matters, you have to know what Infiniti has been working with lately. For a stretch, the brand was running on just two vehicles, the QX60 and the QX80, in a luxury market where most competitors offer two or three times the number of choices. But Ladieu doesn’t tell that story like it was a rough patch to get through. He tells it like a proof point.

“Infiniti is back. And we are here to stay.” – Eric Ladieu

“This past March, we actually sold 13 more cars than we did a year ago with two vehicles in the showroom instead of five,” he says. Fewer models, more sales. To pull that off, he says, you need two things. “You’ve got to have product that delivers, and QX60 and QX80 do that all day long. They are so competitive, so well packaged, and priced for their segments.”

The QX65 steps into the heart of the mid-size luxury SUV market, starting just under $54,000. “There are plenty of competitors going well into the 70s and even the 80s for similar equipment,” said Ladieu.

“Switch up to more value, switch up to more performance, switch up to more content for the money.” – Eric Ladieu

The pitch isn’t that Infiniti is cheap. It’s that you get a lot more than you might expect for what you spend. That thinking is the backbone of the brand’s “Switch Up” campaign, which invites shoppers to rethink what luxury looks like and who offers it best.

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Dealers Are In on It

Something Ladieu keeps coming back to is the dealer network. Not in a dry, corporate way, but as a genuine piece of how Infiniti is rebuilding. He talks about dealers not as a sales channel but as collaborators who helped shape the very vehicle about to go on sale.

“We were talking to them about, ‘How about this? How about that? What do you think about this name or this package or this content at that price?'” said Ladieu. “We really get their feedback because they live our brand out there each and every day when they’re selling these vehicles to the consumer.”

“Bring them new product. You’ve built a foundation of momentum, and now you bring a real volume vehicle. That’s really going to help.” – Eric Ladieu

And listening to the dealers matters for you, the person about to buy an Infiniti. The dealers know what you like and what you don’t. They know what makes you want to buy an Infiniti and what sends you back out the door to the other guys. Listening to them means Infiniti is building the vehicles you, its customers, want to buy.

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Who Is This Car For, Exactly?

“It’s a tale of two different buyers,” said Ladieu. On one end, someone who hasn’t started a family yet, is stepping into luxury for the first time, and wants to treat themselves. On the other end, someone who spent years raising kids and is now, finally, ready to do something for themselves. Two very different life stages, same instinct.

“Switch up to more value, switch up to more performance, switch up to more content for the money.” – Eric Ladieu

“We see this kind of bookending the showroom in terms of who’s going to buy this vehicle,” he says. As Infiniti’s entry-level luxury offering, the QX65 isn’t trying to be everything to everyone. It’s going after people who have already figured out what they want in life. They just haven’t made up their mind on the car yet.

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And a New Sedan. Yes, Really.

With everyone in the auto industry focused on crossovers and SUVs, sedans are almost nostalgic. But when the question comes up, Ladieu excitedly confirms that a sedan is coming back. “In a little over a year,” he said. Definite? “Oh, yes.”

Then he says the thing that is going to make a lot of driving enthusiasts very happy. Infiniti is bringing back a high-performance sports sedan with at least 400 horsepower, available with either an automatic or a manual transmission. A manual. In 2026. “The reason I say automatic or manual is that second option has almost evaporated,” Ladieu said.

A sporty luxury sedan with enough power to make you smile and the option to row through the gears yourself. “It’s going be a blast to drive,” Ladieu said. That’s probably an understatement.

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What Infiniti Means for Nissan’s Future

For anyone who has followed Nissan’s challenges over the past couple of years, there have been real questions about where Infiniti fits in. When a parent company is working through financial turbulence, luxury brands can end up on the chopping block.

“All the way to the top of our management team, including the CEO in Japan, we believe that for us to thrive and to survive, Infiniti has to be part of the equation.” – Eric Ladieu

The relationship, as he sees it, runs both ways. A strong Nissan needs a strong Infiniti. A strong Infiniti makes Nissan stronger. They’re not in competition for survival. They’re tied together.

A volume crossover landing in the core of the luxury market. A sports sedan with real performance credentials arriving within a year. A dealer network that’s invested and ready. This is not a brand winding down or treading water. This is a brand that knows where it’s going.