Straightline

The North American Q45 was allowed to fade into the backdrop with dignity, and without the brand-ruining 'extreme makeover' to try and bring back appeal.
 
The Q45 was/is an excellent automobile, and used ones are highly recommended as great, reliable values. It enjoyed success with early iterations, but lost ground trying to keep pace with the competition as years went on. In the end, it just didn't have the brand cache to compete with the likes of Lexus/BMW/Mercedes/Audi in the highly competetive luxury market. The same fate befell the Acura RL, which eventually de-evolved to the current GS/5-series/E-Class/A6 competitor it is now.
 
The old Q45 had a great run, and at least it wasn't a spectacular, media-laden failure akin to the VW Phaeton.
 
I would love to see a re-designed Q (how about a Q56??, could even be a mild hybrid to compete with the LS600h), however Infiniti/Nissan would have to inject enough technology, quality and class to make it a true LS/7-Series/S-Class/A8 competitor, and not just an also-ran.

Problem is the M45 is already so good...this was heavier and costlier. I like the gatlin gun headlights, but other than that I'd take an M over one of these anyway.

Speakin' of... do they still sell Nissan Maximas? The Altima is/was about the same size and I don't remember hearing anything about the Max in years.

I was thinking about this car the other day...because it came out around the same time as the altima and they look similar so i was thinking...i wonder if its built on the same platform of the altima and why...

desmolicious there will be a new Maxima shown at the NY auto show I believe.
 
The Q45 not being sold anymore isnt anything new. It was dropped like 2 years ago. I always like the Q45 though, it was a good bargain.

The Maxima is still around, it's sold as the "luxury" car of Nissan's lineup, although the feature set isn't too much different from a top-trim Altima. The quad pipes (recently redesigned, no less) are nicely executed, though....=)