Infiniti Project Black S: Meet a new supercar with Renault F1 DNA

Hybrid cars come in two forms. Hybrids such as the Volkswagen Golf GTE and Toyota Prius are selling increasing numbers every year, and that’s because they offer great fuel consumption along with the range you’d expect from a conventional car. And then there are hybrids cars such as the Infinity Project Black S, a monster of a car that uses hybrid energy for even more performance.

A joint project between the Renault Sport Formula 1 team and Infiniti, the Project Black S is actually based on a Q60 coupe at it heart. However, the new model features an all-new aerodynamic – and extremely aggressive – body kit that hints at its extra performance.[gallery:2]

“Infiniti is the premium car manufacturer within the Renault-Nissan Alliance, and a technical partner to the Renault Sport Formula 1 Team,” said Roland Krueger, president of Infiniti. “It is natural that we come together to explore the possibility of bringing innovative high-performance hybrid technology to our customers.”[gallery:5]

However, underneath its rather ostentatious exterior, the Project Black S represents one of the more interesting aspects of hybrids, and race-to-road projects in general. The new car will use an F1-style MGU-K unit to harvest kinetic energy from the brakes, but also an MGU-H unit, fitted to the turbo to harvest wasted heat energy from exhaust gases.

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The Project Black S already has an impressive 3-litre V6 twin turbo engine, but engineers at Infiniti believe that a road-friendly MGU-K and MGU-H solution could give the car up to 25% more power – and of course that will have all the same high torque and zero-lag power characteristics of a hybrid unit you’d find in F1.[gallery:4]

Although it’s clearly just a concept car now, Infiniti has already strongly hinted it – or a car like it – could make its way to the road very soon, and that can only be a good thing. Although the Project Black S isn’t the most practical car, the technology learnt during its development could well be used for more practical cars, and high-performance ones, too.