Infiniti's getting a new global design chief and that's a good thing
Taisuke Nakamura has been responsible for some of the coolest concepts to come from the brand in recent memory and his design sense could be a real leg up for the brand.
Infiniti has been going through some personnel shakeups lately, and during the most recent one, it lost its head designer Karim Habib. Surely this would be a big hit to any company, but thankfully for Infiniti (and everyone else), it has Taisuke Nakamura ready to take Habib's place, according to a report published Monday by Automotive News.
If Taisuke Nakamura's name doesn't ring a bell for you, perhaps his work will. Nakamura is the person responsible for the wildly awesome and gorgeous Prototype 10 concept that was shown in Monterey in 2018 as well as the very handsome QX Inspiration crossover concept we saw in Detroit earlier this year.
Nakamura has been with Infiniti's parent company Nissan since 1993 and has held several high-level design positions within the company. In addition to Prototype 10 and QX Inspiration, he worked on the QS Inspiration which debuted in Shanghai and before that was involved in several Nissan concepts.
Hopefully, Nakamura can continue iterating on the design language that he helped established with the QX Inspiration and push it closer to production. Infiniti could use a shot in the arm, and with its other recent changes which include a move from Hong Kong to Japan and pulling out of Europe to focus more on America and China, a new look could be just the thing.
Apart from Habib's departure, Infiniti has lost two presidents in 2019 alone -- first Roland Krueger to Dyson and then Christian Meunier to Jeep.
Nakamura is set to officially take the position of global design chief as of Sept. 1.
