For the longest time, the Infiniti QX80 suffered from a design that made it look like it preferred to be sleeping in a hammock than being out and about in the road. The refreshed 2018 model fixed some of those issues with new headlamps and a more upright profile, but there’s still something about the full-sized SUV’s design that lacks the personality that’s evident in the QX60 and QX70. Well, in times like this, the solution may not be found with the automaker itself, but rather, in the aftermarket tuning world. In this case, German tuner Larte Design is on the scene with a super aggressive body kit that not breathes much-needed life into Infiniti’s resident flagship SUV.

2018 Infiniti QX80 by Larte Design

Specifications
  • Make: Array
  • Model: 2018 Infiniti QX80 by Larte Design

Larte Design Exterior Enhancements for the Infiniti QX80

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If you’re not a fan of the automotive equivalent of massive makeovers, then you might want to turn your eyes away from Larte Design’s work on the Infiniti QX80. This is what happens when you take a relatively mundane-looking SUV and give it to a tuner that’s known for building some of the most dramatic — maybe even excessive — aero kits in the business. The result speaks for itself, doesn’t it? Do you even recognize it as the QX80? I surely do not.

The front section, in particular, looks like a completely different model. Sure, the “human eye” headlamps — that’s what Infiniti calls them for reasons that are still unclear — are still there, but everything else has changed. The QX80’s already prominent mesh-like grille is gone, and in its place, Larte Design went back to the shed to dust off its old aftermarket grille for the QX80. Some of you might remember the grille with the diagonal bars that meet in the middle, creating multiple V-shaped patterns inside the grille. Larte has literally used that grille since 2011, maybe even earlier.

The aero kit continues in other sections in the front. Sports car-like air intakes have also been added, just above the front fenders. The purpose is unclear, but from an aesthetic standpoint, these new intakes are far and away more aggressive than the ones found on the standard QX80. That’s great and all, but the piece de resistance in the front is the front spoiler, a component that Larte Design clearly took a lot of liberties in, especially when you consider that the standard QX80 has a smooth front bumper with no hints of a front spoiler.

Apparently, the tuner isn’t having any of it because the front spoiler it designed for the QX80 is the visual personification of unnecessary excess. I don’t even know where to start. I suppose I can go with the inexplicably larger air intakes that I already mentioned. A handful of wings and blades protrude out of the spoiler as if they came straight out of the set of Mad Max. The lower grille also gets the wire-mesh treatment while the front diffuser can clearly be seen in the middle, presumably perturbed by the amount of activity going around it.

Now let’s move to the equally dramatic rear section. A word of caution, though. Larte Design used the phrases “jet age” and “fighter plane” in its press release for the new QX80 kit. I guess we know now where the tuner got the inspiration for this body kit, right? It certainly looks that way judging by the huge intakes behind the rear fender and the presence of four larger-than-usual oval tailpipes that have been housed on what look likes a box structure with crossbars. Larte says these boxes look like a shutter. I say they look completely out of place on the QX80. I will give props to the addition of a new central stoplight that’s sitting pretty in the middle. That’s one thing that Larte got right.

Conclusion

I suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Larte’s body kit will appeal to some people. That’s fair because, in a weird way, there is something defensible about giving the QX80 a taste of aggressiveness. The SUV needs it, at least to a certain limit. Unfortunately, it seems that Larte Design cares little about that limit because it went over and beyond what I expected. Does the Infiniti QX80 look more aggressive? It definitely does. But does it now look too aggressive to the point that the SUV has become aesthetically unbecoming of a flagship model? There’s an argument for that, too.

I don’t know which side of the fence some of you are in, but I’m definitely on the side of those who think that this is a bit too much for the QX80.

Further reading

References

Read our full review on the 2018 Infiniti QX80.

Read more Infiniti news.