Remember the Q60 Project Black S concept Infiniti unveiled in Geneva in 2017? Well, according to a new report, the Japanese automaker will finally take the wraps off a production-ready example later in 2018, with its expected output exceeding those of the BMW M4 and Mercedes-AMG C63 Coup?.
Tommaso Volpe, Infiniti?s director of global motorsport and performance projects, told drive.com.au that the high-performance coup? would make its official debut at the Paris Motor Show in October.
Volpe told the Australian publication that the ?Black S? would be the first production vehicle to employ an F1-derived kinetic energy recovery system hybrid engine, supplementing the twin-turbo, 3,0-litre V6 petrol unit for short bursts and regenerating power under both braking and acceleration.
?The Project Black S developed on our Q60 coup? is a special version with hybrid technology from Formula 1 that we are unveiling later this year as a demo car for the first time in Paris in October,? Tommaso told drive.com.au.
?This is a genuine product coming from our partnership in Formula One. The kinetic system recovers energy during the braking while the other recovers when you accelerate, so it?s a much more complicated system.
Volpe said that while the coup? could make somewhere close to 400 kW, the Nissan-backed brand wasn?t necessarily planning on positioning it as the ?fastest performance? car in its segment.
?It is significant recovery for us and gives sustainability of the power. It looks good and it will perform even better because we start from 400 hp and we will add at least 20 to 25 percent ? even more than 500 hp, something more than 500 hp with electric torque? he said.
?It will be a dual-hybrid system like the one in Formula 1, which at the moment doesn?t exist on road cars.?
?The way we want to position the Black S is not like the fastest performance car ever; it will be very fast, of course, and very powerful, but our ambition is more to position it as a smart technology and so smart performance.
?The performance will be there, of course, so we will be among the competitors with performance cars. But we don?t aim to be like the fastest on the zero to sixty [miles per hour] fields; it?s more a technological experience.”
