Roland Krueger, president of Infiniti Motor Co Ltd, underlined his company's readiness to continue to invest in the Chinese market, aiming at long-term sustainable development, in a keynote speech at the Global Automotive Forum in Chongqing on Tuesday.

Via a joint venture collaboration between Infiniti and Dongfeng, the premium brand currently produces two models in China - the Q50L and QX50.

Krueger stressed that cooperation and collaboration are very important in order to sustain healthy development, and added that the "dealer network is an integral part of our business".

He noted that slower growth has become the "new normal" in the Chinese market and as a result he said Infiniti will "take a fresh approach and make swift enhancements to focus even more on the retail side and on our customers".

This includes improvements in areas such as aftersales services and finance offers, he said.

Although the Chinese market is currently experiencing slower growth, Krueger still identified it as the world's biggest single car market, and one that offers huge opportunities for every carmaker, including Infiniti.

He added that, going forward, Infiniti will continue to invest in China with regard to new models, marketing, personnel training and dealerships.

Environmental responsibilities

As one of the biggest industries globally, the automotive sector is expected to play a leading role in shaping the future. The Chinese government's 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) has acknowledged the importance of environmental issues and highlighted the production of green energy, and the adoption of cleaner vehicles with lower carbon footprints, as key points.

The market volume of new energy vehicles in China more than quadrupled to 331,092 units in 2015, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

"We expect the growth to continue. However, there are challenges in the accelerating adoption of new energy vehicles, and they require efforts by many stakeholders to resolve them," said Krueger.

He stressed that in order to develop the infrastructure necessary to encourage more people to buy electric vehicles, collaboration would be required with government authorities and other influential third parties, as well as across industries.

Krueger said the use of NEVs is usually dependent on the charging infrastructure, and growth would depend on developing the infrastructure. Infiniti's parent company Nissan Motor Co is joining hands with three partner car manufacturers in a joint venture in the European Union to develop a multi-standard and interoperable rapid charging network along two major European routes.

Infiniti is extremely well positioned as part of the Renault-Nissan Alliance to develop towards the electrification of the drivetrain going from hybrids to plug-in hybrids and ultimately to electric vehicles in the future, said Krueger.

The alliance is one of the world's largest NEV makers in terms of production.

To date, the alliance has more electric vehicles on the road than any other automotive group - and Infiniti is in a very strong position to utilize the expertise and technologies in EV from the Renault-Nissan Alliance.

The luxury carmaker has developed an outstanding hybrid fleet that consists of the Infiniti Q50 Hybrid, Q70L Hybrid, and QX60 Hybrid, which collectively set a benchmark in the segment. The high performance hybrid powertrain significantly reduces fuel consumption, while maintaining both a sporty driving experience and top notch reliability.

Infiniti is going to offer the Chinese market its premium active crossover QX30 with a smaller engine amid a downsizing trend in the luxury segment.

More innovation

In addition to the undoubted benefits of the widespread adoption of electric vehicles, Infiniti is also working with companies outside of the automotive industry on innovative ideas and technologies around the theme of smart cities.

The luxury carmaker established an accelerator program last year in Hong Kong to help eight start-up firms tackle such urban issues as traffic congestion, traffic safety, environmental concerns, and improving people's quality of life in a sustainable way.

Krueger said: "We need more innovation, and more creative thinking. It is very important for Infiniti that we embrace new technologies and new ideas and utilize these in developing new business."

One of the Hong Kong start-ups is developing a real-time parking lot identifier app, which helps drivers find available parking spaces.

When this app is integrated into an autonomously-driven vehicle, the car will park itself in the nearest space without any input from the driver.

Krueger is clearly confident about the future.

"Infiniti is capable of launching partial autonomous driving today. The technologies are already applied in the Infiniti Q50," he said.

The future technologies include Direct Adaptive Steering system, and Safety Shield technologies.

The groundbreaking DAS uses electronics to streamline the steering mechanism for more precise control.

The Safety Shield protects both driver and passengers with a host of groundbreaking safety technologies, including Predictive Forward Collision Warning, Lane Departure Prevention and Active Lane Control, Backup Collision Intervention, and Blind Spot Intervention, all of which detect threats and automatically adjust or react accordingly.

haoyan@chinadaily.com.cn

Roland Krueger, president of Infiniti Motor Co Ltd, speaks at the Global Automotive Forum on Tuesday. Photos Provided To China Daily

Infiniti will introduce its premium active crossover QX30 to the Chinese market in the second half of this year.

(China Daily 06/08/2016 page15)