The connection between World F1 Champion racing driver Sebastian Vettel and a luxury Japanese SUV may not be immediately obvious, so let's clear that out of the way first. Vettel, as you probably know, drives for the Red Bull team. The engines in the Red Bull cars are supplied by Renault. Renault has, for the last decade and some, been what's known as an "alliance partner" of Nissan. Nissan's luxury brand is Infiniti.Re-read that lot in reverse and you'll see why the Infiniti name started appearing on Red Bulls a while ago. It was a neat and simple way of marketing a brand which is still quite new in many parts of the world (for example the UK, where the number of dealers is intended eventually to reach forty but has only recently increased to seven).The link between Red Bull and Infiniti was strengthened by making Vettel, the former's most successful driver, a Brand Ambassador for the latter and involving him in the development of a new car based on the FX 50 SUV. The true level of his input is probably something that nobody outside the project will ever know, but Infiniti insists that Vettel did a lot more than simply allow his name to be associated with it.Be that as it may, there are surprisingly few differences between this car and the standard FX 50. Extensive use of carbonfibre helps contribute, along with lighter wheels, to a 46kg weight reduction, new and slightly stiffer springs reduce the ride height by 20mm, a new exhaust system and revised ECU settings raise the power output of the five-litre V8 petrol engine from 385bhp to 414bhp, the electronic speed limiter has been removed and the overall gearing raised to permit an increase in top speed to 187mph (which sounds a lot better in metric - 300km/h) and various aerodynamic tweaks including a very obvious roof spoiler lower the coefficient of drag by 5% and improve the coefficient of lift by 30%, according to Infiniti's own figures.There is nothing very dramatic here, not much other than a slightly firmer ride to make you realise you're not driving a regular FX 50. (Infiniti, of course, has a very marketingy answer to this, quoting Vettel as saying that "it is a tribute to the excellence of the standard FX that achieving all my targets required so few changes". Nice one.)The most obvious difference is relatively trivial. That new exhaust system gives the engine a raspier tone, especially if you press a button on the dash for a few seconds to allow an internal flap to open. Once that has happened, the car sounds positively racey in hard acceleration, and the way it explodes into life when you start it up is guaranteed to attract attention.If you don't want attention to be attracted, this is not a car you're going to enjoy. Never mind the noise, the visuals alone make it the centre of attention in almost any motoring company. The fact that the wheels and the carbonfibre exterior elements are black make it seem far more "slammed" than it really is - it seems to be fully four inches lower than other FXs, rather than the actual figure of around four-fifths.Most of the changes to the interior are also designed to make it look darker. Silver chrome has been turned to black, a colour also used for various carbon panels and the quilted suede cloth seat upholstery, door pillars, headlining and sun visors.With one exception, there are no options on which to spend your money. Infiniti, according to its own press material, "believes that no one should be forced to pay for expensive extras". On the other hand, it's quite happy to let you pay handsomely for the car itself. At £100,800, the Vettel Edition costs £42,520 more than the unVetteled FX.The sole option is the roof spoiler, which was originally going to be part of the standard specification until some potential customers declared that they didn't like it. It was therefore deleted, but if you want it you can have it for £4800, bringing the price of the Vettel Version up to £105,600.Apart from the fairly modest mechanical updates and the visual presence already mentioned, what on earth do you get for that sum? Exclusivity, certainly. Only 150 examples are being built, of which a third are intended for sale in western Europe. Of those, ten have been allocated to the UK, so you would be very unlikely to find, as you searched for a parking space, that three other Vettel Edition owners had successfully done so in the same street before you got there.The money also buys you more than just the car. It also brings you into a closer relationship with Infiniti itself. Customers will be invited to various VIP events which are likely to include exclusive driver training, sessions in an F1 simulator and passenger rides in a specially-built Grand Prix car. Infiniti also suggests that there will be "memorable handover celebrations" when the first production cars are delivered to their owners in March 2013. Engine 5026cc, 8 cylinders Power 414bhp Transmission 7-speed automatic Fuel/CO2 21.6mpg / 307g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 5.6 seconds Top speed 187mph Price £100,800 Details correct at publication date
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