Yeongam, Korea (16th October 2011) - Infiniti, the luxury automotive brand from Japan, today announced it will expand its partnership with the Red Bull Racing Formula One team for the 2012 season. The announcement, made at the Korean Grand Prix, follows the win last weekend in Japan by Red Bull Racing driver and Infiniti global ambassador, Sebastian Vettel, of his second world drivers championship.
From 2012, Infiniti will feature more prominent branding on the Red Bull Racing F1 cars, with enhanced logos on the side of the chassis and cockpit top of the next generation car. The Infiniti name and logo will also be expanded to new areas on the drivers' overalls and team equipment. In addition, Infiniti and Red Bull Racing will increase the global and market leverage of their partnership through more marketing and media activities throughout the year.
Speaking at the Korean Grand Prix, Andy Palmer, Executive Vice President, Nissan Motor Company, said: "When we announced the partnership back in March, our single objective was to boost global brand awareness for Infiniti. In just seven months, the results have exceeded even our most ambitious targets, leading to us to becoming the most highly-exposed automotive brand in Formula One this season. As we look ahead to the second year of our partnership with Red Bull Racing, we are now extending into exciting new areas of technical and product collaboration."
Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner added: "In the short time we have been involved with Infiniti it has become clear that the closer we work together the more performance advantages can be gained by both sides. It has been a phenomenally successful first season to date, and deepening our partnership further provides us even more scope to share knowledge and expertise, leading to mutual benefits on the track and the road."
This accelerated program, just seven months after the partnership was announced, further solidifies Infiniti's shared vision with Red Bull Racing, with work streams already in place to develop the partnership into a technical collaboration. Infiniti will also continue to build on its personal agreement with Sebastian Vettel who has already worked on several projects with the company including the launch of the Infiniti FX Sebastian Vettel version at the Frankfurt auto show in September.
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Infiniti, the luxury automotive brand from Japan, reflects its brand promise "Inspired Performance" with a model line-up of sedans, coupés, SUVs and crossovers featuring exhilarating performance, emotive design and cutting edge technology. Infiniti continues to launch across the globe through a dedicated network of Infiniti Centers that share a commitment to exceptional hospitality throughout the entire period of ownership.