Infiniti forced to move back in with parent

Cadillac lasted just three years gallivanting in New York before heading back to Michigan. Lincoln spent five years soaking up the sunshine of Southern California.

So by the standards of second-tier luxury brands that have attempted to forge stronger identities away from their mother ships, Infiniti's seven years in Hong Kong has been a good run.

But Infiniti, which turns the big 3-0 this year, now plans to do what many 20- and 30-somethings have had to do in recent years: move back home.

Nissan Motor Co. last week said Infiniti's headquarters would return to Yokohama, Japan, in 2020 as part of a push to centralize and streamline operations. The 2012 move to Hong Kong had been a bid to establish Infiniti as an international brand and build inroads into the mammoth Chinese market.

"Hong Kong is the door to China," Nissan's then-CEO, Carlos Ghosn, said when Infiniti spread its wings abroad. "It's also a place where you can easily connect with the southeast of Asia, so that's why we said, let's get out of Tokyo, let's go to Hong Kong, put the whole team together so we can reinforce the identity of the brand and the people working for the brand and, particularly, be very near and interacting with the main promising market for Infiniti, which is China."

Infiniti said the return to Japan would facilitate better coordination with the parent company. Much of Infiniti's r&d, product development and design work had never left. The move comes as the brand restructures its global footprint and reels from rapid management turnover, including the May departure of Christian Meunier, who stepped down as president to lead the Jeep brand for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.