The Infiniti Q50 Eau Rouge may not be dead just yet, although don’t expect to see it anytime in the near future. Speaking with Auto Express, Infiniti->ke36 president Roland Kruger said that plans to build the Q50 Eau Rouge haven’t been completely shelved amid earlier reports that the company was shifting its focus on volume products for the foreseeable future.

Turns out, Infiniti still has plans for the Q50 Eau Rouge. It just won’t be in the cards for the time being. Instead, the company will continue its goal of building the brand on the road to becoming a fixture in the global market. That would involve launching models that would drive demand and raise the brand’s awareness, especially in markets where Infiniti is still tapping into.

It’s still unclear how the Q50 Eau Rouge is going to fit into these plans in the future but Kruger did hint that there’s a place for the performance model in the company’s overall lineup. It’s an admittedly surprising reversal of fortune for the Q50,->ke4742 which was said to have been buried when Kruger took over as company president after his predecessor, Johan de Nysschen, left for Cadillac. Remember, it was de Nysschen who had big plans for the Q50 Eau Rouge after the high-performance car’s debut at the 2014 Detroit Auto Show.->ke222

De Nysschen’s departure for Cadillac->ke18 was thought to have flipped the script on the Q50, and for a time, it did appear that Infiniti’s new decision-makers weren’t as keen on pursuing a high-performance model. But, now that it’s been cleared up, fans of the Q50 Eau Rouge should be exhaling a big sigh of relief.

The model isn’t dead just yet. It’s just not in the company’s immediate plans. As soon as Infiniti accomplishes its goal of becoming a bigger player in the global luxury car market, then it’s going to turn its attention to developing a halo model. That could very well be the Q50 Eau Rouge.

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Why it matters

Like most people who fell head over heels in love with the Infiniti Q50 Eau Rouge, I was bitterly disappointed when news broke earlier this year that the company’s new management wasn’t as keen on producing the high-performance sedan as the old management was.

It’s not like I didn’t get it because I did. Infiniti’s new decision-makers wanted to build the brand first by establishing a lineup of models that would boost interest and demand. As awesome as the Q50 Eau Rouge was, it was never intended to be a mainstream model, so it flew against the crux of Infiniti’s new strategy. It was upsetting, but ultimately, I understood why the company thought it was a better idea to establish the brand first before jumping into niche performance models.

It was quiet on that front for almost an entire year and at some point, I found myself resigned to the belief that the Q50 Eau Rouge was never really in the cards for all of us. Apparently, though, the high-performance sedan might still happen, which is great news. When that’ll be is the real question at this point, but given the company’s current strategy, I don’t think we’ll be seeing the Q50 in the near future. But, that’s not as important as knowing that it’s not been completely given up on by Infiniti’s current brass.

We might still see it! All we have to do is wait and hope that Kruger’s words about the importance of having a halo model has some real weight behind it. I’ll be the first to say that I’m willing to make that long wait. I just hope that there’s a big payoff at the end of it.

Infiniti Q50 Eau Rouge

Read more about the Infiniti Q50 Eau Rouge here.