Infiniti, Nissan’s luxury marque, has been an also-ran against competitors like Lexus and Cadillac for years. The company’s executives, though, have come up with a solution. It is a feature that the company thinks could be a very big deal for American families, and one it has spent a lot of time developing.
The humble cupholder is taking center stage, in a move aimed directly at the brand’s JD Power Initial Quality results. Because when buyers are searching for a new vehicle, nothing says initial quality quite like cupholders.
Seven Seats, Eight Cups, No Fighting
Infiniti QX60 cup holdersInfiniti
The three-row QX60 is a family vehicle. “Being a family vehicle, we expect kids, teenagers and even adults in the back rows,” said Chris Fischer, a senior manager at Nissan Technical Center North America. “That was a clear criterion from the very beginning: A 32-ounce reusable water bottle, it’s got to fit there; those larger sizes of sports drinks, front or rear, they’ve got to have a place.”
Infiniti has packed eight cupholders into the QX60, along with four bottle holders. The front seats get two spots for cups, the middle row gets two more, and somehow Infiniti has crammed four into the back. That’s more than one per passenger.
The third row cupholders even do double-duty as phone holders. There’s a USB-C port right beside them, and one is made to fit two large bottles or a big phone like the latest iPhone Pro Max.
Buyers don’t really care that much about cups, do they? They do. Infiniti points to the 2026 JD Power Initial Quality Study, which said “Cupholders are the biggest single contributor to the year-over-year improvement in initial quality.” Well dang.
Cupholder Engineers Have A Harder Time Than Ever
Infiniti QX60 cup holdersInfiniti
These days, cupholders need to hold more than just a large pop. Water bottles and tumblers are all the rage, and while some are designed to fit in normal cupholders, others don’t come close. It makes owners unhappy, and keeps engineers hopping.
Fischer said that “it’s a more challenging task these days because consumer interest in reusable water bottles means drivers are carrying different sizes, shapes and types of beverage containers almost every time they shop for a vehicle.” That said, “it seems to have a big impact.”
To make the different cupholders, Infiniti has dozens of different mock-ups. They range from Red Bull-style cans to Nalgene stand-ins. They even use normal coffee mugs with handles, because some of you are absolutely unhinged and living on the edge. We’re picturing a rack of cups just sitting on a wall at the Infiniti test center.
The cups don’t just have to fit; they also have to stay in place. The testers fill them to 75% and then go for a blast around the company’s proving grounds. It’s a big deal: bad designs can result in wet laps or even litigation.
CarBuzz Insight – Why This Matters:
2027 Infiniti QX60 front 3/4Infiniti
Infiniti has plenty of issues we would have ranked higher than this. It only has three vehicles on sale, for example, and two of those are versions of the same one. The QX60 also feels like it’s been on the market for a very long time, though it only went on sale in late 2021 and was refreshed last year.
The company’s core challenge is getting people into its showrooms. But at least this shows that once they get in, they tend to like it. Especially when it comes to drinking.
