The Infiniti Q50 premium sport sedan has been awarded with the Ritvo Design & Elegance Award by the New England Motor Press Association (NEMPA).

Named for the late Gene Ritvo, a veteran concours photographer and NEMPA member, the award recognizes the very best in automotive design. The recipient of the award is nominated with input from the Larz Anderson Auto Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

This year’s honor was among several announced at NEMPA’s annual Automotive Excellence Awards. Held each year during the press association’s annual meeting on the MIT campus in Cambridge, Mass., the NEMPA awards dinner recognizes select manufacturers and personalities within the automotive community for their contributions and successes as identified by NEMPA members.

“Our friend Gene Ritvo would have been proud to see the Infiniti Q50 take home an award bearing his name,” said Craig Fitzgerald, NEMPA president. “In its thoughtful design, it conveys the class and the sophistication, of which Gene was a pure devotee. NEMPA couldn’t agree more with the expressed views of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Larz Anderson Auto Museum that selected the Infiniti Q50 this year.”

Since its introduction in 2013, Infiniti’s premium sport sedan has been recognized with a number of awards for styling, performance and technology leadership. When it was first launched, the Q50 introduced with it a new design language – which would later be incorporated into the rest of the brand’s vehicles – giving the car a decidedly aggressive, athletic look underscoring its on-road performance.

Emanating from the sedan’s signature “double arch” grille is a character line that flows over the front fenders and tightly around the side of the car, culminating on the rear deck lid, giving the vehicle an element of both elegance and strength. Other characteristic design features carried into the rest of the brand’s line-up include its crescent cut c-pillar and distinctive, almost-human like LED headlights and taillights.

The Q50 also introduced a number of world’s first technologies, including Direct Adaptive Steering (DAS), an innovative steer-by-wire system that allows drivers the option of customizing steering sensitivity and feel, while simultaneously helping to isolate road vibrations. Working in conjunction with Infiniti’s own lane-keeping technology, DAS – like each of the brand’s safety and performance technologies – is designed to complement the driving experience, not replace it.

Source: Infiniti