Eau Rouge / Infiniti GT-R Sedan Rumors Start Again

We're seeing rumors, once again, that Infiniti is working on a four-door sedan that utilizes the Nissan GT-R's underpinnings. A couple of years ago, the Infiniti Eau Rouge concept was shown and was immediately seized upon as the planned "luxury GT-R" ideal, but with four doors.

This is where the rumors began. Now, a new report from Australian magazine Motoring has a "source close to Nissan" saying that the Eau Rouge idea of a GT-R sedan in the luxury Infiniti nameplate is still being circulated in the company. "Our research has shown that there is a move in high performance car manufacturing toward four-door sedans," the source is quoted as saying.

The rumor says that Nissan and Infiniti engineers are working on the sedan GT-R for Infiniti. Supposedly it's target markets would be Europe and the U.S. That would put it in contention against the Porsche Panamera and similar offerings from other German makes like BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Fiat might see some competition too, with the Aston Martin Rapide falling in that category as well.

It's difficult to take these rumors very seriously, however, as the Infiniti nameplate is still struggling to stay afloat in terms of sales. A bold new offering could be a great way to build confidence and add more consumer eyeballs to the showroom floor, but if it's not done very, very well.. the opposite could happen. Given that most of the sports-centric people in leadership positions at Infiniti are now gone and having seen first hand the new emphasis on styling and finesse from current leadership at Infiniti, it's not likely that a Gozilla sedan is really coming. At least not from those quarters. We notice that the quote is from a "Nissan" insider. That might be saying something. A four-door GT-R would be on the same plane as the Charger Hellcat, for example, in terms of appeal to many of today's buyers. There's a lot to be said for family sports cars, after all.

Would a four-door GT-R sell? Sure it would. Would it sell at a high rate? Well, Dodge certainly is having a tough time keeping up with demand for the Hellcat models. So why not?