Japanese luxury sportscar manufacturer Infiniti which is owned by the Renault-Nissan Group, has announced that joins RedBull Racing as a major sponsor. The agreement includes a "commercial and technical" partnership for the following 2 years leaving open the possibility for RBR to choose another engine arrangement when the turbo era begins in 2013. Autosport reports that the partnership targets to boost Infinity's worldwide presence outside its main markets in the USA and Japan,
as well as the development of a battery-powered KERS using Nissan-backred resources. Still, rumours suggest that the collaboration could involve a future rebadge of F1 Renault engines under the Infinity brand name and a possible complete buyout of F1 Renault team by its shareholding partners, Genii Capital and Lotus Group.
The official announcement said:
“Infiniti will have a high-profile branding presence on the racing car, drivers’ clothing and related team uniforms and equipment. In addition to the branding and marketing relationship, Infiniti will work with Renault to forge future technical collaboration with Red Bull Racing.”
Senior vice president of Infiniti Andy Palmer commented:
“Over the mid-term, Infiniti will be simultaneously expanding its global presence and broadening its product range. Given these twin ambitions, it is clear that Formula One offers us an unrivaled global communications platform, complementing Infiniti’s ethos of Inspired Performance. We are excited to have the opportunity to enter Formula One together with a world-class team like Red Bull Racing Renault.”
Meanwhile, RBR's Christian Horner commented as well:
“Red Bull has always taken a different approach, so when the Infiniti executives outlined their innovative plan to us, we were very open to working with them. Coming off the back of our 2010 drivers’ and constructors’ World Championships, we feel even more excited to be starting the 2011 season with a new and committed partner like Infiniti.”
Bonds between luxury sportcar manufacturers and F1 was always strong.
However, entering F1 purely as a sponsor allows Infiniti to promote its competition with Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari luxury sportcar programs while spending only a fraction of the required budget. While Proton-backed Group Lotus and Lada are pulling off similar deals with Renault, and Marussia Motors announced its collaboration with Virgin Racing, Ford (under the Jaguar brandname), BMW, Toyota and Honda must be wondering about the huge sums that they had spent before pulling out of the series.
Moreover, Group Renault and Infinity shows the path to other manufactures like GM and VW Groups how use their Chevrolet and Audi-Porshe brand names respectively, in order to enter the sport in the future without making risky investments.
