Infiniti readies Prototype 10 concept for Pebble Beach
It’s round about Monterey Car Week each year — increasingly a must-do extravaganza for any automaker with premium ambitions — that brands with only a short history become extremely frustrated by that reality. Take Infiniti, for instance. The Japanese luxury brand sprang to life at the close of the 1980s, not nearly long ago enough to have anything from the classic era on the lawn at Pebble Beach or a racing model reliving its heyday at the Monterey Historics vintage races.
So Infiniti has decided to invent a past for itself. Last year it unveiled the Prototype 9, a concept for a 1930s-style monoposto racer that proved to be surprisingly compelling despite being utterly divorced from any actual history. This year, Infiniti is doing another, called, logically enough, the Prototype 10.
Here, we’re given a preview of the new/old concept. Based on this sketch, it appears that the Prototype 10 won’t be as purely retro as last year’s vehicle; it looks instead to be a more modern interpretation of a vintage idea. Specifically, that of a single-seat speedster, with a minimalist, cut-down windshield and an open-air cockpit. Infiniti describes the design as “forward-looking,” and says the vehicle “speaks to an electrified future,” so presumably it’s either an EV or a plug-in hybrid.
We’ll know more about the Prototype 10 when Infiniti unveils its latest concept next week. The Prototype 10 will then take its place among the true classics, vintage racers, and concepts both new and old, allowing Infiniti to participate more fully in the phantasmagorical automotive bacchanal that is Monterey Car Week.