Infiniti Goes Back in Time: The Prototype 9
In terms of the automotive history, the Infiniti brand name is relative newcomer having been established back in 1989 as Nissan's luxury division. But that hasn't stopped the brand from digging way back into the past for its latest concept car: the Prototype 9.
Set to debut at Monterey Car Week, the Prototype 9 draws inspiration from the 1940s to imagine what an Infiniti Grand Prix machine might have looked like during that era. Initially started as an after hours design project, the Prototype 9 evolved into a multi-team project that blends the modern and the retro into a rather stunning automobile.
Inspired by both the racing cars and the aircraft of the '40s, the Prototype 9's body panels were built by a hand by a team of Nissan Motor Corporation's master craftsmen in Japan. And while Infiniti's history isn't long, the project also found inspiration from Nissan's early race cars that dominated the Japanese motorsport scene.
While the styling is loaded with retro details, the powertrain is all modern. In fact, it doesn't even have an internal combustion engine at all. Instead, the Prototype 9 is powered by a 30 kWh battery with a prototype electric motor that makes 148 horsepower and would allow about 20 minutes of track time on a charge while driving flat out.
While this is clearly a design study rather than a preview of an actual production car, it's one of the coolest concept vehicles we've seen in a while, and we can't wait to see it later this week when we venture to Monterey to cover the Car Week festivities.
