Nissan’s luxury brand Infiniti has seen much success in North America but so far hasn’t quite hit the mark with customers in the UK. But this may be about to change with the launch of the Infiniti Q30, the first car produced by the brand in Europe. The model is set to further enhance the company’s C-segment premium-vehicle offering, and the manufacturer hopes it will double its sales figures in the region.
The model is being built at Infiniti’s Sunderland plant. The start of British Q30 production means that the brand’s cars are now being made in five plants in four countries on three continents.
Grahame Cornforth, chief engineer of the Q30, has been working on the development of the model in the Sunderland plant for the past three years. PE spoke to him at the production launch of the model to discover its significance to Infiniti and how he expects it to help the brand to evolve.
How significant to the brand is the launch of the Infiniti Q30?
The Q30 comes at a moment of significant opportunity for the Infiniti brand. Following a period of record global sales, we decided to push this model into a new segment. The decision to build the Q30 in the UK was made three years ago on the back of the high standards met by the Sunderland staff.
I have been working on the Q30 right from the start and it’s fair to say you always get a buzz when you see the car come off the end of the line. For any engineer immersed in a project for this long it’s very satisfying when it’s complete. The Q30 is an important launch for us as it will bring people into the Infiniti brand for the first time. We will then grow and expand our brand offering in a bid to keep them there and satisfy their C-segment needs.
How important do you regard making the Q30 work for the European market?
It was our goal to deliver the model primarily for Europe as we believe that, if you can work well in Europe with a concept, you can work well anywhere in the world. If it doesn’t work for the European market, you’ve missed something.
We’re taking on some very established players in the segment and therefore our car needed to be very strong. To succeed in Europe you need not only to attract people to the car but it needs to drive well and to give you that feeling of premium quality. After making sure the car worked for the European market, we then focused our attention on the US. We had to modify some things for regulations but believe the concept of the car works well in all the markets we have entered.
How did you engineer the car to offer the premium quality you aim for in your brand?
To succeed in Europe you need not only to attract people to the car but make sure it drives well and gives customers that feeling of premium quality. When you shut the door it needs to sound good and when you start it up it’s quiet, refined and smooth.
We developed a secure feeling for the car. When you’re driving at any speed, whatever you do you are totally in command. That means everything around you – all the interfaces the driver has – accelerator pedal, steering wheel, sound of engine, and you’re getting feedback all the time to tell you something is happening.
How do you expect the car to fare among its competitors from other OEMs?
On the outside, the Q30 has unique and stunning looks. It has its own identity which fits in with our design philosophy and ensures it stands out in the C-segment crowd. This segment is packed full of great cars such as the Volkswagen Golf, Audi A3 and BMW 1 Series, but our Q30 offers something different as it is a hatchback with premium feel and a quirky, chunkier look.
You drive the car for 10 minutes and, due to its intuitive nature, you no longer have to think too hard about the task. We wanted the car to become an extension of the driver which makes it stand out in the segment. One way in which we did this was through the seats. We did a lot of research on the competitors in the segment and, while their seats are pretty good, they’re not outstanding, mainly because the feeling of connectivity between driver and car was missing.
We therefore worked on developing a greater contact between the driver and the seat and the driver contact with the car when driving. One of the differences is through spinal support. Humans are designed to stand, and when you sit down there’s 40% more load on your hips. This is why getting the right shape to support the spine is important.
With the Q30 seats we support the back further up than normal and instead of being flat the cushion is angled and the lowest point is under the hip, which helps you sit in position and stop sliding out. After driving it for a long time you feel part of it and you don’t feel any fatigue.
We have taken a homogeneous approach. We have looked at the driver and everything around them and have made every communication between car and driver unique and personalised. Hopefully this will create a better all-round driving experience.
What changes have you made in the Sunderland plant to accommodate the building of the Q30?
Adding the Q30 line required investments worth more than
£250 million, paying for a new 25,000m2 100% automated bodyshop with 134 robots that handle laser welding and other operations. A second plant extension, measuring more than 14,000m2, was also added for final assembly of the model.
The manufacturing process has been tailored to ensure that every Q30 is made for the individual at the trim and chassis shop where the operators perform 1,191 different tasks to complete each model.
We also went a bit further with the design of the car to make something that’s high quality, unique and attractive to the consumer through the use of lasers on the wheels and in the instrument panel. We use laser etching to make a coloured flash on the wheels in between the spokes which is matched to the colour inside the car and on the key fob. These kind of technologies enable us to create really unique design characteristics.
How is the premium quality you’re going for with this car reflected in the manufacturing process?
When we were asked to build for Infiniti, the first question we were asked was can you build to Infiniti quality? That was a really strange question for the plant because what’s wrong with our quality? It’s not a quality question but a specification question.
There is a higher specification of materials and parts in Infiniti than our other products through the Nissan branch. Both makes are exactly the same in terms of achievement of quality but one is a higher specification in terms of materials, and that was an interesting journey for the plant.
In the premium segment we have to offer different engines and transmission combinations, so the complexity of the offer in the manufacturing plant is greater than in the non-premium segment.
The level of technology in the Q30 demands over 60 ECUs, and 50 of them are unique coding and data to be loaded into the plant. To configure the car and how those control units are then adopted to make the car work correctly demanded a whole new process in the facility.
This car is sealed from the outside using a new robot base. We use eight different robots for the underside of the car. For the surface finish of the paint we use a new process called super shine. The amount of ECUs and programmable devices in the car is much higher than in current cars that we build. We also had to put in a new tester line process to programme the devices and look at the interlocks.
The car is full of complicated electrical architecture which requires the use of intricate machinery. A good example is the headlamps. From a simple view they light the road but they’re now actually becoming a very integrated part of the car’s electronics. They have two controllers which manage the functionality of the lighting and performance. The headlamp needs to talk to the camera located behind the rearview mirror. It also detects oncoming lights and needs to be able to talk to other ECUs in the car such as steering sensors. Headlamps are a sophisticated piece of equipment.
We’ve taken components from other cars which makes things a lot easier for us but we have developed a totally unique car with unique characteristics. The hardware might be common but the software and the way it behaves is completely different. The shock absorbers are different as well as the steering, for example. It’s developed and configured uniquely for our car. This is the same for the transmission and engine calibration.
The car has obtained a Euro NCAP five-star safety rating. How did you ensure it met these standards?
One of the important things we wanted to develop was a high level of safety. But our emphasis is more towards avoiding accidents in the first place. We fitted systems such as front-collision avoidance, blindspot warning and a safety shield. In the unfortunate event that an accident occurs then there is full back-up.
What will your next moves with the Q30 consist of?
Q30 production is further strengthening our premium-vehicle manufacturing capability in Sunderland, and exports signal the next phase in the expansion of Infiniti and a new chapter for our UK plant.
The Q30 will be exported from Britain to Europe, China and America, and we estimate 1,000 extra jobs in the supply chain, on top of 300 jobs at Sunderland.
The Q30 represents our commitment to offer a broader range of premium products in new segments, and is part of an intense product launch period that will see us further enhance our offer to an increasing number of customers.
The IMechE has an interesting automotive conference coming up on 22 March in Birmingham on developments in transmission and driveline technology. See events.imeche.org for more details.