Infiniti has pinned its growth hopes on China as it looks to shake things up, its president told China Daily.

"We like to imagine ourselves as a challenging brand to disrupt the status quo, to disturb the equilibrium and to present an alternative choice," Johan de Nysschen, president of Infiniti Motor Co Ltd, said when asked how Infiniti differentiates itself from established German luxury brands Mercedes-Benz, Audi and BMW.

He said unlike other "ubiquitous" brands Infiniti was "the selection for an informed few, those who really value the premium product quality, premium brand attributes, and how the brand expresses their lifestyles".

Nysschen envisioned his consumers as "young-minded", "very informed about various premium brands" and "very successful, dynamic individuals" who choose brand products as a reward for their success.

The brand will not look to challenge the "big three" in sales volumes. Instead, Nysschen said, it wants to challenge them in terms of "inspirational brand character, prestige and respect".

"If you want to go for big volume, you have to take into account so many opinions and tastes that you cannot develop such a unique character," he said when asked why Infiniti does not want to target the mass market.

The company's stance does not mean the premium brand is not driven to enter new segments and markets.

Infiniti entered the Chinese market in 2007 and in terms of sales, the country is its second largest market, following the United States. In 2013, sales of Infiniti in China surged by 54 percent to hit 17,108 units.

In 2012, the company moved its global headquarters to Hong Kong for better proximity to the Chinese mainland, which Nysschen forecasted would be the brand's largest market between 2020 and 2025.

Nysschen said he has not set a specific growth target for the market, as he did not want to compromise the quality of products and service.

"Make sure you get the right product, the right quality, the right customer experience, and profitability. If you get those things right, sales volume will naturally follow. If you start just from sales, you are chasing volume from day one," he explained.

"Sales is not our utmost priority, but from a global basis, I can predict that by the end of this decade we will probably selling over 500,000 vehicles," he said.

In Nysschen's vision, three "disruptive" technologies: connectivity, zero emission and autonomous driving, will be the areas where Infiniti challenges the status quo.

"If you look at the history of the auto industry, at different times there were different companies that are market leaders. Each one of those has moved into that leadership by executing disruptive technology earlier or better than anybody else. I think with the combination of the three technologies we are at the brink of a sea change," he said.

Nysschen said investing in these areas required a huge amount of money and that R&D was the company's single largest expense.

While the brand represents about 2 percent of its parent company Nissan Group's sales, it is projected to account for more than a third of Nissan's R&D expenditure over the next five or six years, according to Nysschen.

After the design studio in Atsugi, Japan, Infiniti opened a new one in London last year, and will build another two in San Diego, the US and Beijing, China, which Nysschen said are expected to "express the mindset, attitude and taste of various regions".

He said he expects the Beijing studio to be fully operational and make commercialization proposals within the next 12 months.

Under Nysschen's leadership, Infiniti has shunned a gradual approach in the domestic market. Instead, it adopted an aggressive strategy, vigorously investing in building the brand to boost sales and justify a local factory.

"To be honest, we make money in the US, and we come to invest in China for the future," he said.

zhengyangpeng@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 04/20/2014 page38)