Infiniti Confirms Production IPL G Convertible at Pebble Beach

Infiniti Confirms Production IPL G Convertible at Pebble Beach:

Infiniti IPL G Convertible Concept

While we were at Pebble Beach getting the lowdown on Infiniti’s new JX crossover, the company decided to slide this announcement under the figurative door: The IPL G convertible has been approved for production. The IPL—that’s for “Infiniti Performance Line”—droptop was shown at the 2010 Paris auto show as a concept, and will join the IPL G coupe at dealers next spring after debuting in final form at November’s L.A. show.

Infiniti says to expect most if not all of the concept’s add-ons to carry over to the production version, including the body kit, stupidly huge exhaust finishers, unique steering and suspension tuning, 19-inch wheels, and red-on-black interior treatment. It also will carry over the regular convertible’s folding hardtop and tiny trunk. The engine is an uprated version of the standard G37′s 3.7-liter V-6, with 348 hp. The six makes 325 horses in the G37 convertible and 330 in the G37 coupe, so this is definitely no AMG or M-level massage. Basically the same stuff is standard kit for the fixed-roof IPL, too.

It’s possible, though highly unlikely, that the additional change in horsepower will allow the IPL convertible to deliver more of a performance bump over its cooking sibling than does the IPL coupe. More probable, however, is that our test equipment will report the same results as it did for an IPL coupe in a recent comparo: acceleration, braking, and curb-weight figures essentially identical to the G37S’s. But in spite of that—and its third-of-three finish—we generally liked the IPL coupe for its fantastic steering, even if it wasn’t a road-slurping demon like the test’s winner, the BMW 1-series M.

The $49,795 IPL coupe commands a roughly $5500 premium over a G37S, and we expect the IPL G convertible to cost around $56K when it arrives next spring.