316bhp M37 good, 400bhp M56 would be better
Nissan's luxury brand Infiniti is gearing up its assault on the European premium car market and these are the first official images of its latest weapon, the M-Series saloon.
The rear-drive 5-series rival will go on sale in mid-2010 and will sit alongside the 3-series-sized G37 coupe, saloon and convertible, and the EX and FX SUVs in Infiniti's ever-expanding European line-up.
The new exec saloon will initially come to the UK as a one-model range, with the M37 powered by the same 3.7-litre V6 that's used in the Nissan 370Z (although the Infiniti get 10bhp less than the big Zed, with 316bhp).
Flowing lines are very un-Nissan
Infiniti plans to expand the M-series range with a Renault-sourced V6 turbodiesel in the third quarter of 2010, and with a petrol-electric hybrid in early 2011, but the real news is a small badge on the rump of the car that you see in these pictures.
That badge says 'M56S' and denotes the range-topping model, a car due in 2011 with an all-new 5.6-litre V8 putting out over 400bhp. But before you get too excited at the prospect of a new M5 rival, here's some bad news: this car isn't coming to Europe. Instead it is destined to replace the current 325bhp M45 flagship in the US (where the M-series model range is already established).
Of course, if enough interest in the V8 M56S version was shown, it might make it to blighty. So come on, get those begging emails sent off to Infiniti - we've already written ours...