Increasing fuel economy and emissions standards have prompted Infiniti to kill off the V8 engine in its future vehicles.
Increasing fuel economy and emissions standards have prompted Infiniti to kill off the V8 engine in its future vehicles. Currently Infiniti offers V8 engines in its FX crossover, QX SUV and M sedan, but the future models will have to make sure with turbocharged six-cylinder engines that will offer V8-like performance.
Infiniti’s global president Johan de Nysschen recently confirmed the plans, “I don’t think any car that is on Infiniti drawing boards from here onwards we should expect a V8 to be included in that plan.”
Infiniti’s competitors like BMW and Mercedes-Benz have not announced any plans to discontinue their V8 engines, but de Nysschen predicts that eventually the V8 will disappear.
“Powertrains have to have a relatively long lifecycle, and we have to think about 15 years from today and the future unquestionably is going to see the downsizing of engines. There will be much focus on fuel consumption and emissions, and horsepower figures are going to come down. The 600 horsepower engines that you see today that are regrettably rare – those are the real top performance cars right now – will become extinct.”
