Infiniti LE Concept Offers Full Electric Driving in a Luxury Sedan

It is really nice when automakers decide not to endlessly tease their new releases and instead just unleash them on the unsuspecting masses. Nissan might have teased the Altima to the point where it was no longer teasing, but this new Infiniti LE Concept is a complete surprise.

The LE is an all-electric, luxury sedan based on Nissan-Renault's electric car architecture. Infiniti calls the styling "dramatic," and that is a good word for it. Polarizing might be another apt term. The front does not have a conventional grill but instead a waterfall of blue LEDs. The hood is scalloped, and from the side you can see a little influence from the G-Series. The C-pillar has an embellished version of Infiniti's corporate kink. The rear has squinting red tail lights. There are no obvious door handles, and the side view mirrors are quite tiny. Inside, the car is actually pretty realistic with lots of blue LEDs for accents. It has dual, central LED screens for navigation and HVAC control, and the instrument cluster displays all sorts of information about the state of the battery's charge and the remaining range. Infiniti wanted the LE to look like a luxury sedan as opposed to the stereotypical electric car. 

"In a future that holds an increasing consumption of natural resources, we will advance our sustainable mobility leadership and expand our EV market penetration with new electric vehicles such as the Infiniti LE Concept," said Nissan President and CEO Carlos Ghosn. 

Because it is a concept, Infiniti did not talk much about power for the LE. It said that its electric motor produces 240lb-ft of torque, and energy comes from a 24kWh lithium-ion battery

Infiniti says that the LE is "production-intent" meaning that this vehicle is theoretically buildable now, and it is gauging consumer interest. 

Are buyers ready for a fully electric, luxury sedan? Fisker is selling its Karma, but all of the other attempts have used either conventional hybrid or range-extended layouts. Even Fisker is moving to a range extender for the Atlantic.