FLEDGLING Japanese luxury car-maker Infiniti is continuing its Australian retail expansion with a new service outlet set to open in Canberra next month.

Bringing its national network to nine outlets and breaking into the Australian capital for the first time, the Infiniti Service Centre Canberra – located in the south-western suburb of Phillip – will concentrate on parts, servicing and other areas of aftersales support.

Prospective ACT customers will still be required to travel to a sales outlet – in Sydney or Melbourne, for example – for the vehicle purchase.

Last month, Infiniti announced a new sales and service centre in south-west Sydney – its third in Australia’s largest city – and has one dealership each in Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, as well as a service centre in North Adelaide and a brand centre on the Gold Coast.

Infiniti Cars Australia managing director Jean-Philippe Roux described 2016 as “a busy year of expansion for Infiniti, both globally and in Australia”.

“In the previous six months, we have announced and opened new Infiniti retail and service centres in Sydney, Adelaide and Perth, doubling our national service coverage,” he said.

Infiniti’s latest service centre will be operated by Rolfe Motor Group, a prominent multi-franchise dealer group in the ACT with other brands including Honda, Mazda, Volvo and Subaru in its stable.

Rolfe Motor Group founder Richard Rolfe said joining the Infiniti family was “an important and exciting investment” and that the Japanese luxury marque had “assembled each of the parts necessary for long-term market success”.

Mr Roux previously told GoAuto that Infiniti was preparing itself for a busy year with new product rollouts and “up to 10 new dealerships across the country”.

These new vehicles include the Q30 hatch, due in the third quarter of this year and positioned to steal sales away from BMW’s 1 Series, Audi’s A3 and Mercedes’ A-Class, an updated Q50 sedan, arriving by year’s end with a Nissan GT-R-derived twin-turbocharged powerplant, and the new Q60 sports coupe. Infiniti launched its refreshed Q70 large luxury sedan in February.

Infiniti has sold 191 new vehicles in the first quarter of this year, a 35.5 per cent increase year-on-year, more than half of which comprised its Q50 luxury mid-sizer (103). Last year saw Infiniti record a total of 574 sales, a 30.2 per cent increase over 2014.

By Tung Nguyen