Infiniti has revealed a high-performance hybrid coupe concept to commemorate its recently established relationship with Renault’s Grand Prix team.
The fact that the Q60 Black S may never reach production is a shame as the spec is exciting. Based on the range-topping 4WD version of the two-door Q60 coupe, the Black S uses an F1-style KERS power recovery system to boost the 3.0-litre twin turbo V6’s power output from 400bhp to around 500bhp. infiniti-project-black-s-6-march-2017-4k-17.jpg
Given that the standard Q60 does the 0-60mph sprint in 5.0 seconds, the “instant, lag-free acceleration” of the Black S should see it easily into the low 4s or even high 3s.
The powertrain is being worked on by Renault and Infiniti engineers at Renault’s F1 engine headquarters south of Paris. The Renault F1 car has discrete motors to gather energy from braking and exhaust gas heat and re-use it to drive the engine crankshaft and the turbocharger’s compressor. The plan for the Black S is to incorporate as much of this technology as possible, a difficult and costly ask for a road car.
If the Black S did find its way into the showrooms it would be considerably more expensive than the £46,700 Q60 – probably well above £60,000. The prospect of it becoming real is enhanced by the company’s investment in a completely new bodywork package by European design director Mat Weaver working from Infiniti’s Paddington, London studio. The Q60’s front and rear bumpers are ditched in favour of new downforce-generating items along with purposeful side-skirts plus bonnet and front wing air vents. Special design 21-inch alloy wheels and big “blued” titanium tailpipes complete the Black S look.
Describing the brief as “easy”, Weaver characterised the Black S as “a true ‘form follows function’ job that reflects the aesthetics of the Black S’s race-bred engineering”.
Confirming Infiniti’s “serious involvement” in F1, the company’s director of global motorsport Tommaso Volpe has referred to the car as “the road-going embodiment of our technical partnership with Renault”.
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