JEDDAH — Building on its continued success, Infiniti delivered 2,286 vehicles across the Middle East markets as it closed out the first quarter of 2015. Registering a growth of 23.9%, Infiniti's sales exceptional performance saw the brand maintain its position as the fastest growing premium automotive brand in the region. “We have continued to build on our growth in Q1 2015 with an excellent result of 23.9% which is almost four times the pace of the market,” said Juergen Schmitz, Managing Director, Infiniti Middle East. The recently published Global Effie Index also awarded Infiniti in the Middle East with 10 points with three shortlists and one win making it the most awarded premium automotive brand in the region. The Effie Awards are marketing communications awards given yearly by Effie Worldwide, Inc., to honor the most effective marketing communications ideas. “Last year saw us introduce the all-new Infiniti Q50 – a sedan with a number of world first technologies, the special edition iconic QX70S Elite Sport and the latest version of our QX80 full-size SUV – all of which continues to add to our regional growth. On the network front we also launched three new facilities in Saudi Arabia (Jeddah, Riyadh and Al Khobar) as well as one in Lebanon (Beirut),” added Schmitz. The all-new Q50 has been a resounding success here in the Middle East. Equipped with two new world's first production performance technologies – Infiniti Direct Adaptive Steering technology and Active Lane Control, 432 units were delivered to customers in the first three months of 2015. Infiniti's broad SUV range continued to contribute to the success of the brand in the Middle East. Leading the way was Infiniti's QX60 registering a 68% growth delivering over 600 vehicles to customers? The QX50 furthered its regional success in 2015 contributing with its growth of 61% with almost 300 vehicles delivered to customers. Infiniti's full-size QX80 SUV also contributed to the brands success delivering 439 vehicles to customers, whilst the iconic QX70 accounted for almost 400 vehicles to customers across the region. Globally, Infiniti had another record quarter with worldwide sales of more than 52,000 vehicles for the first quarter of 2015. This is a year-on-year increase of 12%, making it the best quarter in Infiniti's sales history. All four of the company's geographic regions achieved positive growth. In the US, Infiniti's biggest market, sales hit 33,800 vehicles, an increase of 8% compared to Q1 2014. In China, the brand's biggest growth market, almost 7,900 vehicles were sold, an increase of 28% from the same timeframe last year. In the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) and Asia & Oceania regions, first-quarter sales increased 18% and 31% respectively to approximately 6,400 and 1,400 vehicles. In the highly competitive Western Europe market, Infiniti almost doubled its sales to more than 2,000 vehicles. This represents an increase of 92% and marks a new record for the region. Other regions, such as Mexico, South Africa and Australia, also achieved record sales for the quarter. Schmitz further said “at Infiniti we are committed to expanding our model range as well as our powertrain offering which will better enable us to cater to a wider audience of discerning premium seeking customers. The successes we continue to experience are testament to our strategy both on a regional and global level. We will continue to build on our strong platform and continue the momentum for the year ahead.” — SG
