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 after its competitors, the Lexus GS and Acura Legend.

The small interior resulted from its rounded styling uncharacteristic of the crowded executive car class, which is now considered an early variant of a four-door coupé.

[2] Bob Sikorsky drew a parallel to the 1947 Studebaker Champion and was positive about his driving impression, calling the J30 "one of the best-engineered cars in the world today ... a paragon of smoothness and silence with a remarkable balance between cornering ability and straight-ahead highway cruising".

[4] At the launch event, held at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel, Hirshberg presented the design theme as "a bold, calligraphic sketch of a line and an egg" and noted it was an attempt to grant "instant heritage" to the nascent Infiniti brand.

[5] In a retrospective, Mickey Kaus derided the design as "a pretentious fashion statement" with a "massively round, sagging rear end" that was based "on the bottom of a toilet bowl".

[6] To establish that this was a luxury vehicle, the interior was largely designed with assistance from Poltrona Frau[7] of Italy, whom they had previously worked with on the larger Q45.

The J30 was packaged with a long list of standard features including (but not limited to) a leather interior; bronze tinted exterior glass; digital climate control; real burlwood trim surrounding the climate control unit, Bose sound system control module, and front ashtray; a power metal panel sunroof; dual 8-way power heated seats; dual airbags, variable speed sensitive power steering; and three-channel Anti-Lock brakes with ventilated discs front and rear.

[12] The EPA rated the combined (mixed city and highway driving) fuel consumption of the J30 and Q45 at 20 and 19 mpg‑US (11.8 and 12.4 L/100 km), respectively, for the 1993 model year.

[21] By early March, prices were set at $30,000 and $34,700 for the 1993 model year J30 and J30t, respectively; there were no available options and the first cars were scheduled to be in dealer showrooms by the end of the month.

For 1995, the J30 received subtle vertical ribbing in the tail light lenses, an automatically-dimming rear view mirror, and a power lumbar support control for the driver's seat;[17] in '96 the diagnostic system was upgraded to OBD-II.