Infiniti will provide substantial financial backing to its dealer network to establish the brand in the UK from April 2009, reveals Motor Trader this week.

“We will offer our dealers assistance,” Wayne Bruce, Infiniti Europe’s communication’s director told Motor Trader. As a start-up operation Bruce admitted the dealers initially would have “no car parc for aftersales” to bring in revenue.

But with a sparse network he said the number of cars serviced by each centre would be high as business increased.

The Nissan-owned prestige marque plans to appoint 14 franchised partners in the UK for next year’s launch and Bruce claimed letters of intent had been signed with 80 per cent of them.

Infiniti is the prestige brand of Nissan and has been established in the US for a decade. It’s European network is being modelled on that of Toyota rival, Lexus.