Инфинити J30: Дизайн, тарих және ерекшеліктері

The Infiniti J30, marketed as the Nissan Leopard J Ferie in Japan, was a rear wheel drive luxury car. The J30 went into production on April 7, 1992 as a 1993 model to replace the M30 (which was a coupe), and was launched in the United States after its competitors, the Lexus GS and Acura Legend. The car was sold in the mid size sedan segment between the smaller G20 and the larger Q45, both by size and price. The small interior resulted from its rounded styling uncharacteristic of the crowded executive car class, which is now considered an early variant of a four door coupé.

The J30 was designed at Nissan Design International (NDI) in La Jolla, California under the direction of president Jerry Hirshberg and exterior designer Doug Wilson in 1988 1989. Hirshberg said it was "the first car in what we see as a trend toward breaking away from the long tyranny of the wedge". Paul Dean, in a review for the Los Angeles Times, likened the J30 to "a 1961 Jaguar Mark X that melted", adding the "styling magic has softened the bulk of a sedan into the visual delicacy of a coupe". At the launch event, held at the Waldorf Astoria hotel, Hirshberg presented the design theme as "a bold, calligraphic sketch of a line and an egg" and noted it was an attempt to grant "instant heritage" to the nascent Infiniti brand. In a retrospective, Mickey Kaus derided the design as "a pretentious fashion statement" with a "massively round, sagging rear end" that was based "on the bottom of a toilet bowl".

To establish that this was a luxury vehicle, the interior was largely designed with assistance from Poltrona Frau of Italy, whom they had previously worked with on the larger Q45. The J30 was packaged with a long list of standard features including (but not limited to) a leather interior; bronze tinted exterior glass; digital climate control; real burlwood trim surrounding the climate control unit, Bose sound system control module, and front ashtray; a power metal panel sunroof; dual 8 way power heated seats; dual airbags, variable speed sensitive power steering; and three channel Anti Lock brakes with ventilated discs front and rear. One of the shortcomings of the J30 was its lack of interior room. Despite its exterior mid size car dimensions, the interior space was comparable to a subcompact; in fact, key interior dimensions were smaller than a Nissan Sentra, due to its sloping roofline and shrunken trunk.

Power came from a naturally aspirated 3.0 L VG30DE V6, shared with the contemporary 300ZX (Z32), which produced and of torque as fitted to the J30. Performance was compromised compared to the 300ZX because of the reduced power and increased weight ( for the J30, approximately more than the 300ZX); as tested in 1992, the car achieved a top speed of and accelerated from 0– in approximately 9 seconds. Fuel consumption was nearly the same as the larger Q45; Natural Resources Canada rated the J30 at City/Highway, compared with corresponding ratings for the Q45. It shares the Y32 Chassis with the Nissan Cedric/Cima/Gloria. The chassis used a MacPherson strut front suspension with a multi link suspension for the rear wheels, equipped with a viscous limited slip differential and an anti lock braking system with ventilated disc brakes front and rear. With either engine, the Y32 was exclusively fitted with a four speed automatic transmission. By early March, prices were set at $30,000 and $34,700 for the 1993 model year J30 and J30t, respectively; there were no available options and the first cars were scheduled to be in dealer showrooms by the end of the month. The car launched at $33,000 for the base and $34,700 for the touring models; by 1995, the base model had risen to $39,000, and the J30t was $2,000 more. The J30 remained nearly unchanged through its production period. Heated seats became standard equipment in the 1994 model year. For 1995, the J30 received subtle vertical ribbing in the tail light lenses, an automatically dimming rear view mirror, and a power lumbar support control for the driver's seat; and less than 8,000 were sold in Japan. Production of the J30 ended on June 18, 1997, replaced by the Infiniti I30 (introduced in 1996).

Unlike earlier Infinitis, the J30 received effective advertisement with jazz music and artistic camera shots. The J30 was launched with an ad campaign featuring Welsh actor Jonathan Pryce as the spokesman. Infiniti's chief competitors in the Japanese American luxury car market, Acura and Lexus, used a similar technique in their commercials, which have also featured celebrity voice overs, done by James Sloyan (Lexus) and James Spader (Acura).