Manufactures can make claims about how quick and fast their vehicles are but at the end of the day, they are just that: claims. Infiniti made the claim that their recently released M35h was the fastest accelerating full hybrid but wasn’t pleased with just the boasting. With officials from the Guinness World Records overseeing and the United Kingdom’s CAR Magazine’s editor Tim Pollard driving, the Infiniti M35h actually proved its manufactures claims. With a standing quarter mile time of “13.9031” seconds (an average of multiple runs), it is officially the fastest accelerating full hybrid.
“The Infiniti M35h proves that hybrids can be fast as well as frugal,” said Pollard. “At Santa Pod you could feel the instant torque of the electric motor away from standstill – the car just leapt off the line. I did try changing gears manually, but it was fastest left in automatic. That was when we achieved the fastest single run of 13.8960 seconds.”
A completely stock, production M35h was used for the testing. Driven at the Santa Pod Raceway in the UK, the combined 360 horsepower helped the Infiniti reach its goals. To accompany its rapid quarter mile time, the M35h was already the fastest full hybrid to 62 mph with a time of just 5.5 seconds. These times are all impressive but become even more shocking once you realize what the car really is. Standing at 16 feet long with the ability to seat up to five people, the full size M35h still emits ultra low emissions and achieves a combined average fuel economy rating of 29 mpg.
Source: Infiniti
