If you can track down an Infiniti dealer by springtime, you'll be able to go and look at their new M35h - a supposedly eco/environmentally conscious sporty rear-driver that the company is bullishly calling 'the driver's hybrid'.
A combination of 302hp from its 3.5-litre V6 and 68hp from an electric motor give the M35h sufficient muscle to make it the fastest accelerating car in Infiniti's European line-up. The newcomer will be shown-off at the Paris show next month, but some key performance details have been released in advance.
0-62mph comes up in 5.9secs, and top speed is limited to 155mph, while combined consumption comes in at a parsimonious 38.8mpg.
At the heart of the M35h is a front-engine, rear-drive-only mechanical layout based around an innovative drivetrain featuring a one motor/two clutch system, they tell us.
The first (dry) clutch is installed between the naturally-aspirated 3.5-litre V6 and the electric motor and facilitates full decoupling of the V6 when the car is in electric drive and power regeneration modes. Decoupling the V6 reduces mechanical losses and boosts efficiency of the electric motor.
The second (wet) clutch is sited on the other side of the electric motor. It is packaged within the automatic transmission where its function replaces that of a conventional torque converter, in effect turning the 7-speed gearbox into an automated manual - with a cut in fuel consumption of up to 10% over an equivalent model with conventional torque converter automatic.
All of which sounds great from a techy perspective, although considering the car is designed to take on the best of the Germans and Jaguar, we reckon it will need to get quite a long way on its style alone.
To that end the press release assures us the looks are 'seductive' and the cabin 'alluring'. They've cracked it then, surely?
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