Infiniti eyes 700‑hp QX80

Infiniti is openly talking about building a 700-horsepower version of the QX80, which would turn its biggest family sport utility vehicle into a direct rival for the Cadillac Escalade-V. At the 2026 New York auto show, Infiniti U.S. sales chief Tiago Castro told The Drive the company could “ideally” get there, after first considering something closer to 600 horsepower. (thedrive.com) That is a sharp jump from the QX80 buyers can actually purchase today. The redesigned 2025 Infiniti QX80 uses a 3.5-liter twin-turbocharged six-cylinder engine rated at 450 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque, which already marked a 50-horsepower gain over the previous generation. (usa.infinitinews.com) The benchmark Infiniti is aiming at is not subtle. Cadillac’s current Escalade-V uses a hand-built 6.2-liter supercharged eight-cylinder engine with 682 horsepower and 653 pound-feet of torque, and Cadillac says it can launch the full-size sport utility vehicle from zero to 60 miles per hour in 4.4 seconds. (cadillac.com) So the idea here is simple: take a three-row luxury truck that usually sells on leather, screens, and towing, and add sports-car power. It is the same formula Cadillac has already proven works at the top end of the market, where buyers are willing to pay six-figure prices for a vehicle that can haul children on Friday and feel outrageous on Saturday. (cadillac.com) Infiniti’s confidence is coming from real momentum in the QX80 itself. Infiniti said on January 5, 2026, that the QX80 posted the best retail calendar year in the model’s history in 2025 and recorded 18 consecutive months of growth, helping make Infiniti the fastest-growing brand in the full-size premium sport utility vehicle segment. (usa.infinitinews.com) That sales backdrop matters because performance versions are usually built on top of healthy mainstream demand. Carmakers rarely spend money on a low-volume halo model unless the base vehicle is already pulling shoppers into showrooms and giving the brand room to charge more for a louder, faster flagship. (usa.infinitinews.com) Infiniti has also been testing the idea in public long before this latest comment. In October 2025, the company showed a QX80 Track Spec concept with a modified twin-turbocharged engine making more than 650 horsepower and more than 750 pound-feet of torque, which showed that the platform can already be pushed far beyond the stock truck’s output. (usa.infinitinews.com) A few weeks later, Infiniti went even further at the 2025 Specialty Equipment Market Association show in Las Vegas. There it unveiled the QX80 R-Spec build with a version of the Nissan GT-R’s twin-turbocharged engine tuned to be capable of 1,000 horsepower, which was far beyond anything realistic for a showroom model but useful as a statement about engineering ambition. (usa.infinitinews.com) That helps explain why Castro’s 700-horsepower remark sounds less like fantasy and more like product planning out loud. The Drive reported that Infiniti is weighing timing carefully and may start with a roughly 600-horsepower QX80 before pushing all the way to 700, which suggests the company is thinking about a phased entry into the high-performance luxury segment rather than a one-shot stunt. (thedrive.com) If Infiniti follows through, the result would be a clear escalation in a niche that keeps getting less niche. Cadillac already sells the Escalade-V from about $168,000 in standard length and about $171,000 in extended-wheelbase form, leaving room for Infiniti to position a QX80 performance model either as a direct price match or as a cheaper way into the same kind of excess. (cadillac.com) There is also a branding angle here. Infiniti has spent years trying to recover some of the excitement it once had around performance sedans and coupes, and a high-horsepower QX80 would give it a headline vehicle that is easier to sell in today’s sport utility vehicle-heavy market than a new sports coupe would be. (thedrive.com) For buyers, the immediate takeaway is not that a 700-horsepower QX80 is confirmed, because it is not. The real news is that Infiniti is now publicly admitting it sees enough demand for a muscle-bound luxury sport utility vehicle to chase Cadillac’s formula, and that usually happens only after the business case inside the company has started to look believable. (thedrive.com)