Nissan's luxury brand was prepared by a team code named Horizon, and its badge shows exactly that: a straight road running to a point on the horizon.
- Country
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Japan - Active
- Since 1989
- Website
- Official website ↗
A team called Horizon
Before Infiniti had a car, a logo or a showroom, it had a code name. Nissan called the team that prepared its new luxury brand “horizon”. Keep that word in mind. It turns up again in the badge.
The brand went public at the 1989 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, where its first car, the Q45 sedan, was unveiled. The showrooms came later that year. On 8 November 1989 the first 51 Infiniti retailers opened their doors in the United States.
The name was chosen with an eye for shape as much as sound. According to Infiniti, the brand’s architects saw a pleasing symmetry in the four letter I’s of the word, which suited a brand that wanted to be known for dramatic design.
Infiniti spent several years with its own base outside Japan. It moved to Hong Kong in 2012, and in May 2019 announced that its global headquarters would return to Yokohama in mid-2020, next to its parent Nissan.
A road that never ends
The badge is simple. A metallic oval holds two lines that run toward each other and meet near the top, like a straight road disappearing over the horizon. Infiniti calls it the infinite road, and the point where the lines meet is the vanishing point. The brand says the idea is to keep looking forward, toward new horizons and toward infinity itself.
That idea has been there from the start. Alfonso Albaisa, Infiniti’s senior vice president of global design, remembers first seeing the logo on a clay model of the 1989 Q45. “I was struck by its simplicity and completeness of the message depicted by its graphic design,” he said.
Look at it long enough and you may see something else. Infiniti itself admits that some people see Mount Fuji in the shape, and others a lemniscate, the sideways eight used as the symbol for infinity. Both are popular readings, but the brand’s own explanation is the road and the horizon.
Sharpening the horizon in 2023
In June 2023 Infiniti presented what it calls the fourth iteration of its logo since 1989. Seen head on, the changes are small. The road was reshaped and the point where it meets the horizon was given more emphasis, which Infiniti links to its commitment to looking ahead. The spacing of the INFINITI wordmark was revised too, so the horizon line is easier to see.
The bigger change is on the cars. Infiniti announced a new three-dimensional emblem for future production vehicles, and it lights up. “While most illuminated logos are relatively flat,” Albaisa noted, the design team bent the form and lit it inward, so the bright road appears to run all the way to the horizon.
Night sky and first light
The 2023 refresh also gave the logo a backdrop called Dynamic Horizon, a graphic of dawn. It is built on two core colours. INFINITI Blue is inspired by a midsummer night sky, and INFINITI gold by the light of an early sunrise.
Down the road from the Q45
Infiniti arrived with a flagship sedan and a sports coupe. A few of the cars that followed changed the brand’s direction.
Landmark Infinitis, decade by decade
- 1989: Q45. The flagship that launched the brand, with a 4.5-litre V8 of 278 horsepower and minimalist styling without an oversized grille.
- 1989: M30. The luxury sports coupe that joined the Q45 at launch, with a 3.0-litre V6. A convertible followed for the 1991 model year.
- 2003: G Coupe. Powered by a 3.5-litre V6 of 280 horsepower. According to Infiniti, the G35 line won Motor Trend’s Car of the Year for 2003.
- 2003: FX. One of the industry’s first performance crossovers, in Infiniti’s words, and the car that introduced its Lane Departure Warning system.
Infiniti is the luxury arm of Nissan, and from the 2016 season it was a technical partner of the Renault F1 Team. Its Japanese luxury rivals include Lexus and Acura. For more on how badges like this one are drawn, see how car logos are designed.
Frequently asked questions
What does the Infiniti logo mean?
According to Infiniti, the two lines inside the oval are an infinite road running to a vanishing point on the horizon. They stand for the wish to keep looking forward, to new horizons and to infinity.
Is the Infiniti logo Mount Fuji?
Infiniti acknowledges that some people see Mount Fuji in it, but its own explanation of the badge is a road stretching to the horizon.
When did Infiniti change its logo?
In June 2023 Infiniti presented the fourth iteration of its logo since 1989, with more emphasis on the road and the horizon, revised spacing in the wordmark and a new three-dimensional, illuminated emblem for future production cars.
Who owns Infiniti?
Nissan. Infiniti is Nissan’s luxury brand, and its global headquarters moved from Hong Kong to Yokohama, home of its parent, in mid-2020.
Four I's and a vanishing point
- Founded
- 1989
- Country
- Japan
- Headquarters
- Yokohama, Japan
- Parent company
- Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
- Current emblem
- Two converging lines in an oval, an infinite road to the horizon, refined in 2023
- Known for
- The Q45 flagship and performance-minded luxury cars
- Website
- Official website ↗
