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Nissan's luxury division Infiniti will build right-hand-drive variants of its new G37 sports coupe, opening the way for the appearance of the car in New Zealand and Australia.
The Japanese company has confirmed that the G37 will be the first Infiniti to go global. Sales of left- and right-hand-drive models will begin in Britain and Europe next year.
A Nissan HQ spokesman in Japan said Britain would be the first right-hook market for the new two-door. "The G37 will be on sale from a new network of standalone Infiniti dealers in Britain from October 2008."
But Nissan New Zealand marketing chief Peter Merrie says the rear-drive G37 Infiniti won't be available here.
"We won't be taking it. The volume isn't there in our market for a standalone brand like Infiniti," he said.
Near-new imports of the British-spec G37, however, can be expected to turn up here in 2009.
The sleek two-door is the first right-hand-drive Infiniti. Previous models have all been left-hookers and sold in the US, Canada, South Korea, Taiwan, and Mexico.
Its appearance offers the best indication yet of what might be under the bonnet of the new high-performance Nissan GT-R, due to be unveiled at the Tokyo motor show later this year and on sale in New Zealand next year.
The Infiniti coupe is powered by a new 3.7-litre V6 engine, equipped with variable valve technology and an electronic throttle and mated to either a five-speed automatic gearbox or six-speed manual.
The carmaker says the engine revs to 7500rpm and produces 245kW (328bhp) and 367Nm of torque.
Reports from Europe and Japan say the G37 engine will go into the GT-R, only it will be reworked, twin-turbocharged variant producing around 335kW (450bhp). The same reports say the GT-R is based on the chassis of the G37.
The new GT-R will be badged just that, too - the Skyline moniker goes, ending a marriage first made in go-fast heaven in 1989, when Australia's Wheels magazine christened the car Godzilla.
Nissan introduced the Infiniti nameplate in the US in 1989 to counter top-end Japanese rivals, Toyota's Lexus and Honda's Acura.
The brand started strongly, offering luxury US buyers new technology, like four-wheel steering and active suspension in its first model, the Q45 sedan.
But over time the Q45 became soft. It went from a focused executive sedan to a soft, inaccurate Yank Tank, earning the nickname "the Japanese Lincoln".
Other models along the way failed to hit the mark and by the year 2000, Infiniti was facing extinction.
But the influence of new chief executive Carlos Ghosn helped the brand reinvent itself. Infiniti executives pledged to develop a dynamic and powerful line-up of sporty luxury cars.
An all-new Q45 flagship in 2002 model year attracted new interest - but the Nissan Skyline-based G35 sports sedan in 2003 really turned US sales around, winning numerous car of the year awards.
It drew more attention to itself a year later when Infiniti packaged it with optional all-wheel-drive in an effort to sway buyers from AWD Audi quattros from Germany.
Now, Infiniti's sales continue to increase as Ghosn follows his vision to break Infiniti away from its Nissan roots.
The G35 series helped to re-define Infiniti as the "Japanese BMW", an image it will continue to cultivate with the G37.
