Infiniti and Mercedes-Benz have come together. The two automakers broke ground last year on a new shared engine plant located in Tennessee, plus they plan to share a platform for their respective compacts and may even produce the cars at the same plant. Now comes word that Infiniti might be looking to take a shot at the Porsche Panamera with more help from its new friends at Mercedes.

Per Automotive News (subscription required), Infiniti could be looking to add a coupe-like sedan to its lineup as a new flagship. We hate to use the term coupe-like when describing a sedan, even if automakers keep insisting that their shapely sedans are just that. Still, it seems that Infiniti would look to draw design inspiration from the Essence concept it showed off a few years back. Additionally, Infiniti could turn to Mercedes to nab the German automaker's modular rear-wheel-drive setup known as MRA.

This stylish four-door won't come to light before 2017, if at all, and would help play a role in the desired growth that Infiniti is looking to achieve. As the rest of the luxury car space expands its reach, Infiniti will need to do the same. The only way to do that is by adding more models to create a lineup free of empty spaces. Of course, BMW is apparently going overboard on this idea by creating spaces that no one asked them to, and we hope Infiniti won't follow this model.

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