Infiniti has pulled the wraps off of the Inspiration 10 Concept, providing us a good look at what Infiniti’s future design language could look like. Like its predecessor, the Inspiration 9 Concept, the Inspiration 10 Concept is infused with retro styling, culled from classic speedsters and sculpted with modern design characteristics. Infiniti believes that the concept can serve as a springboard into the design of its future models. As such, the Inspiration 10 Concept is not expected to become a production model anytime soon.

Exterior

It’s hard not to be mesmerized by the Infiniti Inspiration 10 Concept. It’s not a traditional-looking concept by any means, but that’s not the point. The Inspiration 10 is a visual representation of Infiniti’s potential design future, wrapped up in a stunning body that’s inspired by the past. The speedster’s proportions are all over the place. It sits low to the ground, has a short height, and looks wider than most cars. But the style and geometric bodywork are all there, and that’s precisely what Infiniti is trying to showcase.

Up front, the Inspiration 10 Concept wears thin headlamps, thinner, in fact, than the ones we saw on the Inspiration Q Concept earlier this year at the North American International Auto Show. The concept lacks a front grille, but it does have angled air intakes and a large chin spoiler that’s admittedly designed in an odd yet effective way. The hood appears to integrate into the body, creating a seamless, unified look that’s layered neatly by the abundance of body lines on the concept.

The side profile of the Inspiration 10 gives it that sporting look. That’s largely credited to the triangular fin mounted behind the driver’s seat. This particular angle also reveals the concept’s long body, open cockpit, and the short overhangs. Squint your eyes and you’ll also see the small windscreen of the concept.

Move to the back and the first thing you’ll notice is how bulky the rear fascia looks. There are no taillights in the concept, though that thin horizontal line that stretches the width of the concept could be taillights. Down below, you’ll see Infiniti lettering, and below that is an angular and cut rear bumper that leads down to what looks like a futuristic diffuser.

You'll be excused for thinking that the Infiniti Inspiration 10 Concept is nothing more than a design exercise that Infiniti decided to bring to life to showcase its design proficiency. But there’s more to this concept than what the automaker is letting on. The hope is that we’ll find out what that is soon enough.

Interior

Infiniti says that the Inspiration 10’s cockpit draws inspiration from “ single-seat formula race cars.” That’s a fair sentiment because there’s not a lot going on in the cockpit in terms of quantity. It’s small and completely uncluttered, the latter only achieved because there’s literally not a lot of space to work with. Run a checklist of items in the concept’s cockpit, and that checklist isn’t going to be long. There’s a driver’s seat, a four-point harness, accelerator and brake pedals, and a race-inspired steering wheel. That’s about it.

Fortunately, there’s more to the concept’s cockpit than the sum of its parts. The steering wheel, in particular, comes with a flat lower section and grips for the driver’s hands. Since the concept is an electric car by definition, there are no gear switches or toggles in the wheel, leaving only a compact instrument display.

Just in front of the steering wheel is the driver’s seat, trimmed in black leather with red stitching thrown in. Side and hip bolsters help improve the seat’s comfort levels, and in typical speedster fashion, the seat is mounted completely low to the ground, partly because it looks cool, but mostly because it helps improve the concept’s center of gravity.

The cockpit technically has space for a passenger seat, but in keeping with the concept’s speedster identity, Infiniti ignored putting a passenger and instead used that space to add a massive vent that channels air through the car, presumably to cool the batteries and electric motor that serve as the power sources of the concept.

Drivetrain

Most concepts literally have no powertrains underneath their skins, and it looks like the Infiniti Inspiration 10 Concept is the same. Still, the automaker is clear that the concept is a gateway to an electrified future, and the way it’s designed indicates that it’s going to run purely on electricity.

"Electrification provides new opportunities for the design and layout of our cars. In accommodating batteries and electric motors, or employing smaller gasoline engines, we aren’t bound by the same physical restrictions,” Infiniti Executive Design Director Karim Habib said in a press release. “Prototype 10 shows how an electrified powertrain could fit within a lean, lightweight and daring body, and this enabled us to rethink the fundamental layout of the car."

Demonstrating the potential application for Infiniti’s powertrain technologies is one of the concept's main objectives. But that’s all there is to it. Beyond the opaque and vague “large electric motor” description, there’s nothing tangible under the concept’s body; the concept is nothing but a design study at this age.

What’s important, though, are the design characteristics that are included specifically for the purpose of aiding electric powertrains. The plethora of ducts and vents, including the massive vent in the space where the passenger seat should be, are all there to help improve cooling for a battery pack.

Final Thoughts

On the surface, the Infiniti Inspiration 10 is a stunning work of art. It almost feels like it belongs in a museum more than the lawn at Pebble Beach. But as it is, there’s more to the Inspiration 10 than meets the eye. The design study works in stirring our imaginations, but Infiniti’s purpose for the concept runs a lot deeper than that. In a lot of ways, the concept is a peek into Infiniti’s future, one that will be dominated by electrification. It probably has no place in that future, per se, but as it is today, the Inspiration 10 Concept could be described as s link between where Infiniti is now and where it plans to go in the future. That plan takes the shape of a sleek, retro-styled, futuristic-looking speedster, but make no mistake, the road the concept will travel to will lead it down the path to electrification.

Karim Habib said it best. “For us, electrification means performance — our cars will be powerful, efficient, and highly rewarding to drive, and Prototype 10 is a physical representation of our electrified future."

Further reading

Read more Infiniti news.

Read our full review on the 2017 Infiniti Prototype 9.

Read our full review on the 2018 Infiniti Q Inspiration Concept.

Read more Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance news.