The Infiniti J30 was a rear wheel drive luxury car. The J30 went into production on April 7, 1992 as a 1993 model to replace the M30 (which was a coupe), and was launched in the United States at the same time as its competitor, the Lexus GS. The car was designed to slot between the smaller G20 and the larger Q45, as Infiniti's first mid-size sedan. Also, it was fairly small but featured rounded styling uncharacteristic of the crowded near-luxury market. Chief exterior designer for the J30 was Jerry Hirschberg, president of Nissan Design International (NDI).

Unlike earlier Infinitis, the J30 received effective advertisement with jazz music and artistic camera shots. Power came from a 3.0 L VG30DE V6 (shared with the 300ZX) which produced 210 hp and 192 lb·ft (260 N·m) of torque. While it shares the Y32 Chassis with the Nissan Cedric/Gloria, it was essentially a rebadged version of the Japan-market Nissan Leopard, where it was offered with both the VG30DE and VH41DE V8.

All J30s were built in Tochigi, Tochigi, Japan. Production of the J30 ended on June 18, 1997, replaced by the Infiniti I30 (introduced in 1996).