• by Tanya Gazdik , February 23, 2021

Infiniti has signed on Brooklyn-based Ishka Designs to promote its new limited-production crossover coupe, the 2022 QX55. 

Anishka Clarke and Niya Bascom, the interior design firm’s founders, conduct a video tour of the vehicle and comment on its design. 

The automaker posted the two-part series, called “Luxe By Design,” on YouTube today. Episode 1 is 2 minutes and 5 seconds while Episode 2 is just shy of 2 minutes.

“When I look at the QX55, I think it is really thoughtfully designed, from the balance of proportions to the contouring of the clamshell hood to the rear spoiler,” Clarke says in the Episode 1 video. “It all has a feeling of timeless and inspired design."

Bascom runs his hand along the front of the vehicle and says: “The origami grille mesh is beautiful.”

In the second video, the duo check out the vehicle’s interior.

“I’m really impressed by the tailored feel of the cabin,” Bascom says. “As I’m sitting in the car, I felt like I could just float. And it felt natural, it felt light -- almost like I was at home.”

The videos are also part of an advertorial effort on Complex.com, which ran each video and copy in separate pieces on Feb. 17 and Feb. 19. The videos will be featured in other advertorials through March, says Phil O’Connor, Infiniti director of marketing communications and media at Infiniti.

The partnership with Ishka Designs is “an indicator of where we want to go with this car,” he says. “Their design aesthetic and approach is very similar to ours, so we think it makes for a great partnership. Design has always been core to our brand.”

Interested consumers can visit a website to pre-order the vehicle, which has starting price of $46,500. Those who reserve a vehicle before April 5 and purchase it by July 31 can choose one of three design-focused incentives, which retail for about $1,000 each, O’Connor says.

The three gifts are a loudspeaker from Transparent Sound, a set of luggage called the Starter Set by Away, or the Tom Dixon Brew Coffee Collection.

The website continues to use the brand’s “Luxury should be lived in” motto. 

The vehicle is aimed at a younger audience than those who typically consider Infiniti, says Phil York, Infiniti global head of brand and marketing, who calls it Infiniti’s “provocateur” and a “statement on wheels.”

The new model brings together “coupe-based styling” with “crossover confidence,” he says.

The vehicle has “real attitude and so do the customers who will buy it,” he said during a virtual media briefing Tuesday. “It’s for those adventurous souls who don’t want to succumb to corporate conformity, who don’t want to wear the same boring gray suit as everyone else, go to the same boring coffee shop or run on the same treadmill. It’s about style before status. It’s not about owning it, it’s what you do with it that counts.” 

The “bullseye” demographic for the QX55 is male, 35, suburban, pre-family, he says. 

“We know from our research that’s really the key demographic that this car will appeal to,” he tells Marketing Daily. But "more than on any particular section of the population, we focused more on attitude.”

The luxury automaker hopes to attract a younger generation to the brand, he adds. 

“We know that the customers who will be attracted to QX55 want to express their own individuality, and so I think we will find those people across all sections and groups."

The marketing will bring the vehicle’s provocative nature to life, he says. 

“We will be leaning into the QX55’s head-turning style,” York says. “We will be championing individuality, not conformity.”