Infiniti Wants You To Know That It Has A New Smell

Buried underneath an avalanche of Nismo Z visuals is an announcement Infiniti is very proud of. Is it finally new product? Perhaps a replacement for the decade-old Q50 is finally here? No, that would be too uplifting. Instead, Infiniti wants everyone to know that it has a new smell.

So what is this new smell? Something we’ve never smelled before? Did Infiniti figure out how to synthesize the scent of a bionic cheetah or something? Not quite. According to Infiniti, “The scent evokes a forest, with hints of hinoki wood (Japanese cypress), sugi (Japanese cedar), and yuzu (Japanese citrus).” It all sounds like men’s aftershave, but that’s not even the strangest part.

Over the past decade, we’ve seen automakers experiment with very expensive sanctioned versions of those tree-shaped air fresheners often found in the junkyard. Mercedes has a fragrance dispenser in the S-Class, BMW has one in the 7 Series, and even Genesis is in on the trend. Infiniti? Not a chance. This new smell isn’t even for cars, which makes you wonder why Infiniti bothered.

Apparently, this scent will be used at brand events and in showrooms, which is shocking, because I bet anyone who doesn’t work for Infiniti could name a single Infiniti event. Apparently, the brand does things, although even Infiniti seems to have forgotten that. The brand’s events page on its press site hasn’t been updated since 2019, when we nonchalantly blasted particles into each others’ faces, blissfully unaware of any potential danger.

Mind you, the new scent isn’t the only thing Infiniti’s touting — it now has a slimmer print logo, a more 3D logo for future vehicles, and has composed soothing tunes for commercials and for dealers to use as hold music. It even plans on redesigning showrooms to look more Japanese. That’s all well and good, but I have a strong feeling that most people don’t buy cars due to showroom architecture.

From this position, Infiniti seems at risk of evaporating into the ether if serious model investment isn’t made. Sure, the new QX60 is a solid choice, but nothing else the brand makes is hugely competitive. The Q50 is ancient, the QX50 is a bit pedestrian, the QX80 is old, and the QX55 is unfortunate. That doesn’t mean that some of these cars aren’t good, but they just don’t have the edge to go toe-to-toe with segment leaders.

It’s a shame because the brand was on an absolute flier in the 2000s, kicking the E46 3-Series in the nads, rubbing elbows with the Porsche Cayenne, and producing some sensational machines. The original Infiniti G35 was so good that I bought one, and I’ve always wonder how many of Garfield’s family members were slaughtered to create the FX45’s astonishingly orange optional interior. Time will tell if the next generation of cars will live up to the golden years, but at least we’ll have a scent to remember the brand by.

(Photo credits: Infiniti)

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48 thoughts on “Infiniti Wants You To Know That It Has A New Smell”

“…because I bet anyone who doesn’t work for Infiniti could name a single Infiniti event.”
You mean couldn’t name an event?
Zzz…I’m already bored talking about Infiniti…still a good, interesting article!

So I’m probably gonna get a lot of hate for saying this, but leather has always been my preference for seating surfaces, and nothing beats the new car leather smell…

Thirdmort says:

June 27, 2023 at 1:41 pm

So one thing I learned working on a program that would export to China, apparently there are people who find the smell of the leather off-gassing as really unpleasant. Apparently, it’s a genetic thing?, but a lot of people of Chinese heritage notice the chemical smells. OEMs do a lot to try to mask/minimize that smell for the China market.

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