Vettel's concept to be built
2011-10-20 07:46
CELEBRITY TIE-UP: The FX concept is a collaboration between Infiniti, Sebastian Vettel and his team Red Bull Racing.
The Infiniti FX concept designed and built for double Formula 1 World champion Sebastian Vettel will enter production, the automaker has confirmed.
The FX was the star of the Infiniti stand at the 2011 Frankfurt auto show in September, and the Vettel version had design, engineering and aerodynamics upgrades inspired by the Red Bull Racing champion - who happens to be Infiniti's global brand ambassador.
LIKE AMG OR M
Infiniti executive vice-president Andy Palmer said: "Doing the FX Sebastian Vettel version for Frankfurt was fun but it’s also a kind of pilot. It’s about our equivalent of (Mercedes-Benz) AMG or (BMW) M Cars. We wanted to test the organisation to see if it could cope with this type of special version.
F1 PEDIGREE: Red Bull Racing assisted in the development of this Infiniti concept.
"Sebastian’s FX demonstrates we are able to do low-volume specials and the FX Sebastian Vettel version is one of the first that will go to market.”
The Frankfurt concept car was born out of a conversation between Vettel and Infiniti chief creative officer Shiro Nakamura at the 2011 Geneva auto show.
SPORTS CROSSOVERThe five-litre V8 was tuned to provide 313kW and, with an aerodynamics package developed by Infiniti in collaboration with Red Bull Racing, the crossover was billed as the most focused sport crossover yet built by Nissan's luxury offshoot.
It has, Infiniti claims, a top speed of 300km/h.
Details of the production version are yet to be confirmed.