Nice and easy on QX50, Infiniti says

Infiniti will encourage dealers to go slow in selling the brand's soon-to-launch star product this year, the redesigned QX50 crossover.Infiniti told dealers at the make meeting Saturday that it envisions the model more than doubling its 2017 sales volume to about 35,000. And factory officials outlined an aggressive marketing plan to support the QX50 launch all year.But Infiniti also told dealers it will be important to "take their time" in retailing the model, which has gotten its first full redesign since it appeared in late 2007 under the name EX.Randy Parker, Infiniti Americas vice president, urged dealers to retail the crossover with an eye toward gross margin and view it as an opportunity to boost dealership profitability.Parker said that, to reduce selling pressure on the vehicle, Infiniti has removed it from the factory's normal sales incentive program — a move to ensure dealers do not discount its pricing to hit monthly sales goals."This new model is so important to us," Parker told Automotive News after the meeting. "We really want our dealers to take their time selling it, to focus on the vehicle itself, to sell customers on its styling and its technology — not to be pressured to sell it, but to sell it on its merits."We'll be trying to help them do that."He said Infiniti also intends to constrain factory production of the model to make sure inventories stay tight.Dealer Mario Murgado echoed Parker's words after the make meeting."The new QX50 is very important to us," said Murgado, owner of Infiniti Stuart in South Florida and also chairman of the Infiniti National Dealer Advisory Board. "It's going to help us on several fronts. It's a huge growth segment in the industry right now. And we're also seeing tremendous interest in it, both in pre-reservations to buy it, as well as in conquest. "The initial numbers we're seeing look like 70 percent of the people are new to the brand," he said.Infiniti told dealers the QX50 will be a centerpiece of its 2018 marketing. It plans a launch campaign that will premiere during the NCAA basketball tournament finals, running from April until the brand's yearly July-August summer sales period. The QX50-centered campaign will then resume until the end of October, before Infiniti's annual November-December year-end sales event, Parker said.

Nice and easy on QX50, Infiniti says

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