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Nissan has made its pick and the executive will be named "at a fitting time," CEO Carlos Ghosn told reporters in Hong Kong today.
Nissan, which introduced the luxury brand to China in 2007, plans to increase China sales by 50 percent this year, he said.
Nissan is counting on China to help drive growth and challenge Volkswagen AG's Audi, Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz and BMW AG.
Ghosn plans to more than triple Infiniti sales to 500,000 units in five years to raise its share of the global luxury car market share to 10 percent.
"What they are trying to do in China is what Toyota's doing in the U.S.," said Kota Yuzawa, an analyst of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. "It's very much from scratch. Lexus 20 years ago was also from scratch."
Global management, sales and marketing staff for the brand will be based out of Hong Kong, while engineers will remain in Yokohama, Japan, said Haruko Wada, a spokesman for Infiniti in Hong Kong.
The new headquarters will have a workforce of about 100 by the end of this year, mostly hired externally, she said.
Nissan's deliveries of Infiniti vehicles in China climbed almost 40 percent to 19,000 units last year, making it the luxury brand's second-largest market after the United States, where two-thirds of Infiniti cars were sold last year.
In the United States, Infiniti lags Mercedes, BMW and Lexus in sales. Infiniti's U.S. sales dropped 5 percent in 2011 to 98,461, and sales have dropped 4 percent to 33,349 this year through April.
"Establishing our headquarters in Hong Kong, the gateway to China, is an acknowledgment of the center of gravity in luxury vehicle sales," said Andy Palmer, the Nissan executive vice president in charge of Infiniti.
He said dealerships will increase from 25 last year to more than 100 over the next year.
Sales of premium cars have "considerable" room to grow as they only account for about 5 percent of vehicle sales in China, compared with 10 percent in the U.S. and 16 percent in Europe, Yuzawa said in an April 20 report.
Infiniti M sedan
Nissan said last month it will begin manufacturing two Infiniti models in China starting in 2014.
It unveiled a stretched version of the Infiniti M sedan designed for Chinese customers at the Beijing Auto Show last month.
Ghosn said details, including the location, of Infiniti's China plant will be announced by the end of the year. Nissan manufactures most Infiniti models in Tochigi, Japan, about 62 miles north of Tokyo.
The yen's climb, reaching a postwar high in October, has prompted the company to reduce Japan production and shift output overseas.
Infiniti JX SUVs started rolling off assembly lines in Tennessee in February, Nissan spokesman Toshitake Inoshita said.
"The challenge is how they will bring new models to meet local demands," said Masatoshi Nishimoto, an analyst with IHS Automotive. "The Chinese premium car market is already very competitive as there are German luxury brands like Audi and BMW that have already established a good reputation among local consumers."
Adding markets
Infiniti vehicles are sold in 46 countries and regions, with the company planning to expand that to 70 markets by 2016.
This year, it will add new markets including Australia, Mexico and Brazil, Ghosn said.
The company plans to produce vehicles at "full-speed" and stockpiling is "not an issue for Nissan" in China, where industry vehicle sales may increase 7 percent to 8 percent this year, Ghosn said.
Infiniti sales may reach 300,000 in the country by March 2021, according to Yuzawa's report.