2008 Infiniti Fx35 Awd Sport Utility 4-door 3.5l on 2040-cars

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Infiniti offers chance to design Sebastian Vettel's helmet for the USGP

The Circuit of the Americas will host its second United States Grand Prix in November, and based on what's happening with New Jersey it might be the only US torch left alight in the Formula One firmament. The story even before the inaugural event was about getting American fans involved, and Infiniti appears to be making the first splash this year with a competition to design Sebastian Vettel's helmet for the first two days of race weekend.
The only thing required of the graphic designer within you is to head to the competition site, download the helmet template and slather it in your unique technicolor vision. It will require some thought to make something interesting, though, since much of the helmet is already committed to team and sponsor logos; other than a few thin strips along the sides, your creativity will be confined to the oval atop the shell. Vettel will choose the winner and will wear the selected lid during the free practices and qualifying.
The grand prize winner will also get a VIP trip for two to the grand prix as a guest of Infiniti, which includes some face time with the triple world champion himself. The contest is on now, the deadline for entries is 11:59 pm GMT (6:59 EST), Sunday, September 29th and the winner is chosen the very next day. There's a press release below with more info if you want the complete skinny before putting stylus to digital paper.

Infiniti QX80 refreshed for 2015, range-topping Limited trim added

Alongside the updated Q70, Infiniti has refreshed its fullsize SUV, the QX80, for the 2014 New York Auto Show. Like its freshened sedan, the QX80 is full of incremental styling tweaks typical of a mid-cycle update like this. Also like the Q70, there's a new member of the QX80 family for the 2015 model year.
But first, the overarching changes for the QX80 range. As we said, this is pretty standard fare, with new headlights and taillights and a restyled grille designed to fit the full-sizer in with the most recent Infiniti design language. Full LED headlights, turn signals and fog lights should provide a bit more illumination, while the mesh inserts on the "double-arch" grille remind us of the Q50. Still, this is a rather bulbous, inelegant piece of design in our eyes. Out back, the shape of the taillights has been tweaked, and they now sport LED illumination. The new rear bumper is larger, as well.
In the cabin, upgrades are similarly sparse. There are a few new tech items, like automatic high beams and predictive forward collision warning. Overall, though, this is the same wood-and-leather-lined cabin Infiniti has been selling for the past few years.

Infiniti G37 to live on in showrooms alongside 2014 Q50

Infiniti is preparing to roll out its hotly anticipated 2014 Q50, a car that not only ushers in a new alphanumeric naming strategy, it ostensibly replaces the G37 as the brand's bread-and-butter sport sedan. That will happen, but not in the short-term, as the G37 will continue to be manufactured and sold alongside the Q50, at least for the rest of this year.
Infiniti spokesman Kyle Bazemore has confirmed to Autoblog that a decision is pending on how long to extend the G37 sedan's production run. "We're taking Q50 up a little bit, and that allows us to keep the G Sedan in the lineup... It [Q50] certainly started as a replacement, but it ended up being much more than that." Confusingly, Infiniti has already announced that the Q50 is to start at $37,605 (including $905 destination charge), yet the 2013 G37 is more expensive, starting at $38,255 delivered according to Infiniti's consumer website. Thus, a price drop on the G37 is likely coming in short order.
So why hold on to the older model? With the Q50 launching exclusively with V6 and Hybrid models (a turbo four and diesel are said to be in the cards down the road), Infiniti evidently feels it is risking leaving lower-end sales on the table. "There's a lot of movement with the [BMW] 320i and such, and this allows us a two-tier strategy to compete," says Bazemore. Keeping the G37 on tap at a lower price for fleet sale duty may also serve to protect the Q50 as it establishes itself on the market.