Infiniti Enthusiasts have every right to feel burned by Infiniti, but it sounds like the automaker is preparing to make amends—and ready to jump into the horsepower wars. That expansion includes its flagship SUV, the QX80. On Wednesday at the 2026 New York Auto Show, Nissan and Infiniti’s Senior Vice President of U.S. Marketing and Sales, Tiago Castro, told The Drive that “ideally” the automaker could deliver a 700-horsepower QX80. But, timing is everything. Castro, an enthusiast whose first car at Infiniti was a G35 with a manual transmission upon starting at the company, said “we love that, by the way,” when it was noted that the Cadillac can’t build the Escalade V with its supercharged V8 engine producing 682 horsepower quickly enough. The man knows there’s a market for a ridiculously overpowered SUV in America. “We’re working, as you probably heard through the rumors, on a series of opportunities for a performance line. We believe that Infiniti will connect well with that type of vehicle. So QX80 is one of the opportunity models that we’re developing. I don’t have a date to tell you, but stay tuned,” Castro said. In March, a report emerged that Infiniti is prepping a hotter QX80 with 600 horsepower (and possibly 24-inch wheels) to kick off a new Red Sport performance era. That era is also going to include a “high-horsepower” sports sedan with a manual transmission option, according to Castro. “But here’s the deal, when we look at performance line, one, the QX80 today has 450 horsepower. So we want something that is significantly better. So should we have 700 horsepower? Ideally, can we get 700 immediately, or is it better to have something in between? That’s the discussion right now. Timing is key. The other piece, along with timing too, is just opportunity to maximize on this. Do we launch a QX80, for example, with 600 horsepower? Is there a demand for that? There’s a huge demand for that,” Castro said. Castro’s current struggle? Answering the question, “Should we wait or should we go?” According to the man in the hot seat at Infiniti. This idea isn’t pie-in-the-sky stuff. Infiniti showed a 1,000-horsepower Nissan GT-R-powered QX80 in Midnight Purple paint at SEMA in November. Reality? Maybe, maybe not. But Castro knows there’s a market, acknowledges there’s a market, and is thrilled to see Escalade V sales proving a business case. Ideally, Castro said there would be a QX80 with something like 700 horsepower, “Yeah, but it would likely be one step at a time,” the executive said.
