Infiniti QX80 With 600 HP Will Kick Off a New ‘Red Sport’ Performance Push: Report

Infiniti has been teasing some intriguing ideas lately—rear-drive sport sedans and supersport SUVs are supposedly in the brand’s near future. Word on the street now is that Nissan‘s luxe brand will roll out a full-crazy, super-limited, wild-widebody version of the QX80 eventually, but it will enter the arena of performance-luxury earnestly with a slightly less extreme QX80 rumored to be in the 600-horsepower neighborhood.

The QX80 is a land leviathan that seats up to eight people. The range-topping 2026 Autograph model weighs around 6,200 pounds. The powerplant is a 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6 (VR35DDTT), claiming 450 horsepower and 516 lb-ft of torque—that engine replaced a 400-hp V8 when the current model of the SUV came out.

Today, Automotive News got a scoop about Infiniti tweaking its performance-car plans around this vehicle. According to AN‘s anonymous source, a new package will be available on the QX80 in spring 2027. “It will feature larger red brake calipers, red ‘S’ badging, and potentially 24-inch wheels,” AN wrote. The publication also got some quotes validating these ideas from Infiniti execs.

It’s unclear if Red Sport will be used as a performance subbrand name, trim level, or package name (or some other thing). The quote about “red ‘S’ badging” makes it sound like this will use the same “S” demarcation Infiniti has used in the past on some slightly sporty variants. I suspect Red Sport will be deployed as a package applicable to different QX80 trims—that would be a smart way for Infiniti to differentiate itself from existing sport-luxury subbrands.

Infiniti Product Marketing Director Brian Maragno reportedly described this high-powered QX80 as a “first step,” and “an additional level of performance but not going all the way [to the extreme of the QX80 Track Spec Concept].” Expect “Things that are noticeable but not drastic … It’s what’s under the hood that matters.” That implies we’ll see engine tuning but not the widebody. Getting a 450-horsepower twin-turbo car to 600 is not trivial, but definitely within the realm of possibility.

I dropped a note to our contact at Infiniti about this, and will update our post here if we get any additional story-advancing insight. So far, there have not been any updates on the next-gen Q50S sedan that was reportedly teased at a dealer conference “with a twin-turbo that screams,” but theoretically that will also be part of Infiniti’s upcoming performance push.

Infiniti has made some great-driving cars since it entered the American market at the end of the ’80s, but has never really been able to nail the cool subbranding that’s needed to get people into dealerships who are willing to pay up for performance. BMW M and Mercedes-AMG have decades of real motorsports pedigree to trade on—Infiniti needs to figure out how to counter that without using a time machine.

About a decade ago, Infiniti tried to make “IPL” happen (stood for “Infiniti Performance Line”), but the initiative withered after just a few years. Another sport branding attempt, “Red Sport,” had a similar feel (and a similarly short lifespan) but seems more likely to return. That said, I also wouldn’t be surprised if Infiniti tries to start fresh with a new name. Perhaps “R-Spec” as was tried out on that SEMA build?

Infiniti knows it needs something fresh in the sauce to start slurping up market share in the immediate future. The brand appointed two new high-level execs just this year (Americas VP Eric Ledieu and Marketing/Sales SVP Tiago Castro). All this to say, the time is right for big new business and splashy projects. Here’s hoping they come out as cool-looking as they did on the SEMA show floor.

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