The Three-Row 2025 Infiniti QX80 Makes a Sky-High Debut in New York

The 2025 Infiniti QX80, which will go on sale towards the end of summer, made a high-flying global debut in Manhattan last month.

The huge, three-row SUV was cut up into pieces then transported via elevator to the 100th floor observation deck of the Edge at Hudson Yards. The Infiniti, the first car to be so ensconced, was revealed 1,100 feet up amid flashing colour lights in partnership with iHeartMedia in a live stream as night descended on New York City. Later, five-time Grammy winner singer/pianist Jon Batiste entertained a group that included executives and dealers.

Luxury three-row SUVs have turned into an important segment, including electric entries such as the seven-passenger Kia EV9 and Cadillacs Escalade IQ and Vistiq (coming as a 2026 model). The QX80 isn’t electric; it’s powered by a 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6-rated engine with 450 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque. That’s up 50 horsepower and 103 pound-feet from the current QX80. The nine-speed automatic transmission is shifted with piano key buttons.

Prices start at US$82,450 for the Pure rear-wheel drive version, and soar to US$110,595 for the Autograph all-wheel drive (with four iterations in between). At the launch, Craig Keeys, group vice president of Infiniti Americas, described the QX80 as “our new flagship, pushing the envelope from ordinary to extraordinary.” Keeys didn’t mention the twin-turbo V6 power, and the other speakers skipped over it too—the QX80 is all about luxurious refinements and tech innovations.

Prices for the large, luxury three-row SUV start at US$82,450.
Infiniti

For instance, heated and cooled seats for the first two rows are available, as is massaging in the second row. Upscale Autograph buyers get rear climate controls via touchscreen. Much mentioned at the launch was the segment-first availability of biometric cooling, which monitors second-row passengers body temperatures and automatically adjusts the climate controls and air flow to that section. So, if mom picks up an overheated soccer player, he or she will be cooled down while other passengers and the driver stay steady.

And then there’s the top of the line 1,200-watt, 44-speaker Klipsch premiere audio system with a 24-channel amplifier and, among other things, titanium tweeters and speakers in the roof. Other carmakers have big stereos, too, but this one has something called Individual Audio, which directs phone calls and navigation to the front headrest speakers without interrupting the cabin’s music. Or the driver can listen to sounds directed only at him or her, without waking up sleeping passengers.

The interior on the QX80 is decidedly upscale, with leather, wood, suede, and metal elements. There are two 14.3-inch displays. The driver’s screen has three separate views, and there is a nine-inch touchscreen below the infotainment display with climate functions and a haptic element to let users feel when their fingers are on the correct virtual button. A colour head-up display is available. When drivers approach their QX80, its flush door handles open up to welcome them.

The interior features leather, wood, suede, and metal elements.
Infiniti

At the top of the line is the Autograph grade, which gets a two-tone roof, dark chrome trim, and unique 22-inch Turbine wheels. Inside, it benefits from semi-aniline leather with hand stitching and open-pore ash wood trim with aluminium accents.

As it sat under the coloured lights on the vertigo-inducing observation deck, with a cold wind blowing, it was possible only to get a quick first impression of the QX80. It’s big, the type of SUV that only American automakers built until the Asian brands realised it’s a highly lucrative market. And recent experience suggests that buyers want their three-row SUVs with the top infotainment and luxury appointments. Hence the Autograph version might do quite well.

Batiste, with a drummer and alto sax player, played four songs, mixing up jazz, funk, New Orleans percussion interludes, and soul. He was kinetic, barely staying at the piano for half a song. One number combined John Coltrane and the Beatles before it turned to some jazz-rock. The children’s song “If You’re Happy and You Know It” became a bravura version of “When the Saints go Marching In.” In a brief interview, Batiste was asked about seeing the QX80 on that windswept platform. “It proves it’s durable,” Batiste says.

AI agents like Muse can already find you the cheapest hotel room in Paris. But they can’t locate a cheaper version of that Catskills cabin you’ve been eyeing, because it might only be available on Airbnb ABNB -1.43%decrease.

Investors should pay attention to that distinction. When Meta Platforms META 3.38%increase launched its Muse agent last month, travel stocks including Booking Holdings BKNG -1.19%decrease, Expedia and Airbnb all fell sharply.

Airbnb, though, has a real chance to emerge as a winner from the upheaval. The catch: Its stock already reflects above-industry growth. To justify its valuation, Airbnb will need to turn repeat customers into loyal ones.

Online travel companies make much of their money by simplifying search and collecting fees on bookings. AI agents threaten that model.

But not all travel marketplaces are equally exposed. Booking and Expedia largely sell hotel rooms that travelers can also book directly or through competing sites. If an agent can find the same room elsewhere, it has little reason to favor either Booking or Expedia.

Booking and Expedia also sell sponsored listings that steer travelers toward particular properties. Wells Fargo estimates those will account for about 8% of Expedia’s revenue and a much higher percentage of profit next year.

Airbnb has more ways to adapt. More than half its listings are available only on its platform, and more than 90% of its traffic comes directly to its app or website.

The customer relationship doesn’t end after booking, either. Bernstein analyst Richard Clarke notes that 90% of Airbnb guests go on to message their hosts about arrival times, keys or local taxes, giving Airbnb a connection to both sides of the transaction.

How the companies have responded to the possible agentic future is telling.

Expedia quickly signed on as a Muse partner. Airbnb hasn’t, and Chief Executive Brian Chesky says AI chatbots have so far been a boon, sending customers to Airbnb’s website.

Chatbots might work for buying paper towels, he quipped at a Skift conference last month, but people enjoy planning trips. He argued that browsing dozens of homes isn’t something a text-based chatbot is well suited for.

Still, the AI jitters arrived just as Airbnb was persuading investors it deserved its pricey multiple. For years after its 2020 initial public offering, the stock—which trades around 25 to 30 times forward earnings—went nowhere. Investors saw a mature operator trading at a growth premium.

This year, Airbnb growth seems to be accelerating. The stock jumped in August after the company raised its full-year revenue-growth guidance with its second-quarter results. Wells Fargo analyst Ken Gawrelski credits a run of product improvements under a revamped leadership team.

Among the changes: letting guests reserve now and pay later, adding hotels, and a redesigned home page and app. Investors were also betting on what comes next, including thousands more hotels, car rentals and, eventually, advertising.

The irony is that some of those growth drivers push Airbnb closer to the kind of business Booking and Expedia run—the kind of business AI agents could threaten. Even if AI agents capture a large share of travel planning and booking, Airbnb would capture the demand. But it and others would slowly lose control over how customers find and choose properties.

That would undermine the advertising opportunity investors are counting on. The bigger point for Airbnb and other marketplaces is that losing control of customer acquisition could mean surrendering some of their pricing power and margins.

To bulletproof itself, Airbnb might look to another e-commerce giant that has so far kept AI agents at arm’s length: Amazon.

Like Amazon, Airbnb has a loyal customer base and hard-to-match supply. But it has nothing like Prime membership to make customers think twice before taking their business elsewhere.

That is where loyalty comes in. Business travelers stick with Hilton or Marriott because enough nights earn them perks. Leisure travelers rarely accumulate stays with one chain. Airbnb has millions of listings and plenty of repeat customers, but no broad rewards program. It has begun experimenting with credits on hotel stays, but it should make loyalty a priority, not just a promotion.

Airbnb also plans to launch its own AI agent next year. But travelers using an agent might still want it to search Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking and hotel websites alike, rather than limit itself to one company’s inventory.

Eventually, Airbnb might have to strike deals with agent makers, using its unique homes as leverage to negotiate favorable terms, says Gawrelski. Such deals, along with rewards for loyal guests, could over the long term eat into the company’s roughly 13% take rate, he adds. But if they bring in enough additional bookings, the trade-off could be worthwhile.

History offers a reason not to panic. The shift from desktop to mobile unsettled investors in Alphabet and Amazon, but both emerged as major beneficiaries. Companies with valuable assets can come out of a platform shift stronger, if they adapt quickly enough.

Airbnb has homes the bots can’t easily replace. Now it needs to give guests a reason to insist on booking them there.

The Three-Row 2025 Infiniti QX80 Makes a Sky-High Debut in New York

AI-powered travel agents are challenging online booking platforms, but Airbnb’s exclusive listings and direct customer relationships could give it an edge. Its next challenge: turning repeat guests into loyal customers through stronger rewards and innovation.