Infiniti Prototype 10 concept shows company’s electrification plans

Infiniti says its Prototype 10 Concept is a “physical manifestation of Infiniti’s creative and ambitious plans for electrified performance”. The concept uses an electrified powertrain and adopts a variety of powertrains created by parented company Nissan. This is the second retro-inspired concept after the Prototype 9.

The car is a roofless single-seater, with the engine at the back cooled by large vents behind the driver’s seat and where the passenger seat would be. The car is fitted with only a driver's seat, a four-point harness, pedals and a smaller diameter steering wheel. The car will never make production though. The car’s design draws heavily from early California speedsters of the mid-20th century. It was created using inputs from the company’s design centre in Kanagawa, designed virtually in the UK and built in the US. The car’s simple shape and the fact that you can only see the driver’s head led to the team calling it ‘The Bathtub’.

Executive design director, Karim Habib said, “The Prototype 10 echoes the layout and design of early speedsters. This period saw the creation of some of the most evocative car designs of all time, where power was celebrated through high-powered single-seat competition cars, were characterised by the simple love of driving.”