Infiniti dealers will be no-longer as of Christmas 2020.
Infiniti Cars Australia has announced it will invoke a “strategic plan” to focus instead on its priorities on electrifying its models range “over the next three years” while “withdrawing and concluding its sales operations in Australia”.
The company tells AutoTalk franchised Infiniti dealers will continue to sell and service in the coming year.
Infiniti’s five dealers affected will be Infiniti Centre in Brighton and Doncaster in Melbourne, Castle Hill and Peter Warren in Sydney, and the sole dealership in Perth which opened late last year.
“From late 2020 Infiniti dealers will cease operations in Australia, this will allow for a well-managed transition from Australia for both dealers and customers,” a spokesperson says.
“Our operations and the customer experience will remain the same until late 2020, and we are putting plans in place to ensure that our customers continue to enjoy the service and support they expect long after that date,” they explain.
The brand says it will be “assessing the most effective and convenient way of providing full aftersales service for Infiniti owners in Australia, including service, maintenance and warranty repairs.”
Precise details about how Infiniti customers will receive its Australian Consumer Law guarantees regarding warranty repairs and maintenance will be communicated in due course, the brand says.
Plans to delete diesel drivetrains from its portfolio will continue, potentially awaiting for electric vehicle maturity in the Australian market before returning.
The brand revealed the all-electric Qs sports sedan in Hong Kong in April which also recently appeared at Pebble Beach in Monterey last month along with the rest of the Edition 30 line-up to celebrate the brand’s 30th anniversary.
Infiniti says it will “place more focus on its SUV lineup in North America, bring five new vehicles to China over the next five years and work to improve quality of sales and residual value”.
Australian Infiniti sales have struggled in 2019, with just 351 reported sales to the end of July, and just 36 in July itself.
Compared with rival brands in the premium segment, Volvo reportedly sold 562 cars last month, Porsche sold 326 and even Genesis reportedly sold 22 units.
Despite troubled sales figures, it hasn’t been entirely poor for Infiniti’s various models like the Q50 sedan which reportedly sold 20 units in July, a 185.7% increase over July 2018, while its yearly sales performance has been up 32.9% for 113 units.
Q70 sold zero last month and therefore none for the year, but the Q60 sports car, which only sold one unit in July, is up 10.5% for 2019 with 63 reportedly sold units. Unfortunately the brand’s July passenger sales were down 8.7%, despite the yearly increase of nearly 19%.
Focussing the brand’s North American SUV sales might be the right move for that market, but in Australia the brand lost 53% of reported sales in July over 2018, and is down over 13% in yearly unit sales.
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