Infiniti knows that Americans love towing things. Especially true homes on wheels. In this case, Infiniti needed to adapt to market requests.
When it arrives later this year, the all-new 2022 INFINITI QX60 will boast a 20% increase in maximum towing capacity over its predecessor. Powered by a 3.5-liter V6 coupled to INFINITI’s all-new 9-speed automatic transmission, the upcoming QX60 had the bona fides on paper to exceed expectations.
Selected grades of the all-new QX60 can tow up to 6,000 pounds — enough for a 22-foot Airstream trailer or weekend adventure toys such as bikes, small motorized vehicles, or personal watercraft. Rigorous testing at INFINITI’s Arizona Testing Center validated the exceptional capacity, even under harsh conditions.
Engineers have logged thousands of hours and hundreds of thousands of miles behind the wheel of the all-new QX60 in validation and durability testing. Private roads at the company’s Arizona Testing Center provide multiple scenarios including concrete, asphalt, and dirt surfaces but also “Belgian blocks” — rough roads with protruding stones — rough gravel, washboard surfaces, and deep potholes.
The QX60s also were sent out into the “wild,” real-world conditions that test a variety of conditions including high-altitude roads in Colorado, extreme cold in Alaska and other areas of North America, steep streets in San Francisco, and far-flung off-road ventures in Utah. Brutal heat is back at home, near Phoenix where temps can reach 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46 degrees Celsius) or hotter. The QX60 was even asked to perform on the grueling towing gauntlet universally accepted as the crucible of carrying capacity, the Davis Dam.
That increased towing capacity is supported by increased cooling and stability assistants. Selected models receive an uprated transmission oil cooler, integrated hitch receiver, trailer-tuned stability programming, and dedicated prewiring harnesses.
On average, each engineer tasked with testing the limits of the all-new QX60 draws on a decade or more of professional experience developing and testing vehicles. That ensures that the extensive knowledge each engineer has filters through to drivers and owners of the new QX60 in everything they touch, feel, and hear; whether towing a large trailer or trekking across town with the family.
