Lincoln Rival Infiniti Kills Two Crossovers

Nissan has faced its fair share of challenges as of late, struggling financially to the point where it’s cutting jobs, slashing costs, and it even mulled the idea of merging with Honda, though that deal ultimately fell through. Last December, the company granted dealers selling its luxurious Infiniti models the ability to merge with Nissan dealers, though it has been rolling out new products for that brand recently as well. However, now Infiniti is killing off a pair of crossovers, too.

Those crossovers are the QX50 and QX55, according to Automotive News, which reports that production of the low-volume models will end this December. Infiniti told its dealer network that it plans on building enough of those models to supply them with inventory through the summer of 2026, however. The brand notes that it believes that it can fill the void left by the departure of the QX50 and QX55 with the three-row QX60 and the new two-row QX65 that’s slated to launch next year.

“If you go into a showroom and you have cars like the QX60, the QX80, the special versions we have planned – QX50 and QX55 start looking dated,” explained Nissan Americas product planning boss Ponz Pandikuthira. “So we have to make the tough call to focus on the new lineup and then talk about the new vehicles in the C and D segments in the next couple of years. You might lose some of the very deal-focused, lower-end [consumers], but that’s really not what we’re planning to do with Infiniti as a brand.”

Infiniti clearly sees a need for change after its sales plummeted 51 percent in 2024 versus pre-pandemic levels, and the brand accounted for just 2.8 percent of the luxury vehicle market in the process. It’s a rather stark contrast to Infiniti’s rival Lincoln, which has enjoyed a tremendous rebound as of late, with its sales in the U.S. growing by 35 percent to 30,293 units during the fourth quarter of 2024 and just over 28 percent for the entire year.