Infiniti has taken the wraps off the Q60 Black S concept. The hybrid coupe concept has been designed to celebrate the carmaker’s new technical partnership with Renault’s Formula 1 team.
The Q60 Black S will use an engine augmented by an authentic Formula 1-style kinetic energy recovery system tipped to boost its total power to around 507hp. Its unique powertrain is being jointly developed by Renault and Infiniti engineers at the former’s Formula 1 engine HQ. It also gets an accompanying set of super-performance body modifications, designed at Infiniti’s Paddington studio under the supervision of European design director, Matt Weaver.
The concept is based on the top-spec, four-wheel-drive version of Infiniti’s new two-door Q60 coupe, whose 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 engine already produces 406hp and gives the car a 0-100kph sprint time of 5.0sec.
Weaver has completely redesigned the body of the car by replacing the Q60’s front and rear bumpers with more aggressive downforce generating designs, along with neat side skirts, working air vents on the bonnet and front wings, and massive ‘blued’ titanium tailpipes. Also, the Black S’ wheels are specially designed 21-inch alloys.
In Renault’s Formula 1 car, separate motor generator units gather energy from braking and exhaust gas heat and redeploy it via a lithium-ion battery pack to power both the engine’s crankshaft and turbo compressor. The Black S engineering team wants to replicate as much of this system as possible, a large and costly exercise in a road car application.
“We’re very serious about our involvement in F1,” says Tommaso Volpe, Infiniti’s director of global motorsport. “We want the Black S to be seen as the road-going embodiment of our technical partnership with Renault. We are developing the power unit now, a big challenge because our car is already tightly packaged. But indications of success are good.”
The Infiniti Q60 Black S concept hasn’t yet been confirmed for production.