Infiniti will start production of its new Q30 compact hatch at a Nissan plant in Sunderland, England mid-next year, and shortly after production of a crossover version dubbed the QX30 will join it. The information was revealed via a Tweet made by Nissan executive vice president Andy Palmer, who is also running Infiniti until a replacement can be found for Johan de Nysschen, who recently quit in order to join Cadillac.

Both models will be built for export to Infiniti’s international markets, including here in the U.S., but eventually we’ll see production of Infiniti’s compact range move to a new plant in Mexico. Recently, the Japanese luxury brand confirmed that its next-generation compact range will be built at a Mexican plant shared with Daimler, which plans to produce some of its Mercedes-Benz compact cars at the site.

The QX30 will feature similar styling to the Q30 but will benefit from a taller ride height and all-wheel drive. Both the Q30 and QX30 will ride on Mercedes’ MFA compact car platform currently found in the likes of the CLA- and GLA-Class. Although the vehicles will be sold in the U.S., their target market will be Europe where the premium compact class is dominated by the likes of the Audi A3, BMW 1-Series Hatchback and Mercedes-Benz A-Class.

Four-cylinder engines will be offered in the Q30 and QX30, and while some markets will receive diesel units the U.S. is likely to have gasoline units only.

Look for the debut of a QX30 concept in the near future, possibly at the 2014 Paris Auto Show in October.

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