Nissan Juke 2016 News

It's early days yet for the fallout from Brexit but there may be a completely unexpected impact in Australian car showrooms.

Bad bluetooth is becoming a major turn-off in showrooms and Nissan has the numbers to prove it.

Nissan has given the Juke baby crossover a serious performance boost with the Nismo RS version revealed at Los Angeles motor show. It follows the styling cues of the Nismo sold overseas, but gets a slightly more aggressive body kit with red and black accents, with those colours continuing into the leather and Alcantara interior set off by carbon-look trims. But the more welcome news is that the Juke's 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine has been poked to now put out 160kW of power and 285Nm of torque -- a respectable lift from the current standard Juke top-spec Ti-S's 140kW/240Nm (and the 147kW/250Nm of the slightly warmer Nismo in overseas markets). The poking largely took the form of a reprogrammed CPU and larger-breather exhaust, but the transmissions weren't left out. The six-speed manual gearbox also gets shorter lower ratios and a limited-slip differential to better deliver the outputs to the front wheels. Paddle-shifters have been added to the all-wheel drive version's continuously variable transmission, but the downside to the auto is reduced outputs of 158kW and 250Nm. The good news is that handling is sharpened by reprogramming for the torque-vectoring system. The RS sits lower than the standard Juke and gets a stiffer chassis with extra bracing, with other underpinning tweaks including more responsive electric power steering, and larger front and vented rear brakes -- all wearing red calipers. Nissan hasn't announced which markets it will roll out to -- or when -- but with the standard Juke having only recently arrived here, and the current Nismo still a 'business case in progress' for Nissan Australia, it could be a while before we can get our hopes up of seeing the Nismo RS here.   Watch the desktop version of the Nissan Juke Nismo RS official video here.   This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott   _______________________________________  

Nissan’s uniquely-styled Juke crossover SUV will arrive in Australia in October, staking Nissan's claim on the growing baby SUV segment. The Juke’s Australian arrival will trail its Japanese, US, and European launches by three years, but its innovative styling should easily bridge the age gap to newer rivals such as the Holden Trax (which starts at $23,490), plus the upcoming Renault Captur and Peugeot 2008, plus production versions of the recent Honda Urban SUV and Suzuki iV-4 concepts. Priced from $21,990 for the entry manual Juke ST, the Juke will sit beneath the five-seat Dualis in Nissan’s Australian lineup, with ST-S and Ti-S grades filling out a three-tier model lineup.  The Juke will be available with two engine options, with the 2WD-only ST fitted with a 1.6 litre petrol engine and available in either five-speed manual or ($24,390) CVT auto, while the ST-S and Ti-S will be equipped with a turbocharged version of the same engine as seen in the Pulsar ST-S and SSS hatches. Nissan is yet to specify outputs or efficiency figures for either Juke 1.6, but the non-turbo is rated at 86kW/158Nm for the UK market, and the turbo should match the 140kW/240Nm of the Pulsar models. The $28,390 ST-S is also 2WD-only, and comes exclusively with a six-speed manual transmission. The $32,190 range-topping Ti-S is the sole all-wheel drive variant, and paired with a CVT auto only. Further spec details will be announced closer to the Juke’s October launch, but Nissan Australia’s marketing boss Peter Clissold claims that the Juke’s spec levels will offer buyers good value. “Each grade in the JUKE model range has a compelling mix of standard equipment in a vehicle rich in stand-out styling and dynamic performance,” Clissold says. This reporter is on Twitter: @Mal_Flynn   PRICING Nissan Juke ST 2WD (manual) - $21,990 Nissan Juke ST 2WD (auto) - $24,390 Nissan Juke ST-S 2WD (manual) - $28,390 Nissan Juke Ti-S AWD (auto) – $32,190

A fiery division of Nissan is back on the track and expanding its global sales to Australia. A 147kW/249Nm Nissan Juke Nismo, shown this week at the Chicago motor show, could make it here to complement this year's release of the more subdued 140kW/240Nm of the standard Nissan Juke. Australia is said to be interested in the Nismo (it stands for Nissan Motorsport International) lineup that includes the Juke and a hot 370Z. Nissan Australia boss Bill Peffer says he'll wait until the market reacts to the standard Juke before making a decision on the Nismo version which is expected to cost about $36,000. The move pre-empts Nissan's push to overhaul its compact SUV models - Dualis and X-Trail - within 18 months while including the front-wheel drive Juke into the Australian market. But in Chicago, Nissan's global communications manager Simon Sproule indicates the Nismo sales in Australia are a done deal. He says that while the latest Nismo makes up only about 5-10 per cent of Juke sales, it had potential and was considered vital to showcase Nissan's sports-oriented aspirations. "This is really the re-launch of Nismo,'' he says of the release of the Juke edition. "The Juke and the 370Z show Nismo's abilities.'' The Juke Nismo was shown at Chicago with a full body kit that creates 37 per cent more downforce than the standard car. It also has bigger 18-inch wheels and a lowered suspension. Sproule says Nissan is also planning to go one step further with a planned 162kW RC version of the Juke Nismo, with a lowered body, choice of front or all-wheel drive and a more aggressive body styling. "The Juke Nismo was developed and priced to be accessible,'' Sproule says. "We focus on value. "But the RC is coming in about 18 months and it's less compromised car for the more performance-oriented owner.'' Sproule says Nissan has been approached by rally teams that wanted to use the Juke Nismo in competition. "We are very keen to see the Juke enter rallying - it's a sport that has a lot of heritage at Nissan. "But it's not a priority for us to have a factory presence. "We have our hands full with V8 Supercars, Le Mans, Super GT in Japan and through Infiniti, Formula One. "Now is our biggest presence in motorsport ever. "Rallying is undergoing a transition and there are a lot of factory teams competing in WRC. But for now, we can supply the Juke Nismo for independent teams but not for our factory - not yet.'' The 370Z Nismo was launched at Chicago with minor updates over the previous year's car. Compared with a standard 370Z, it has a firmer ride thanks to spring rates that have been increased by 15 per cent, rear spring rates up by 10 per cent, the front stabilizer bar rate is firmer by 15 per cent and the rear stabilizer bar is 50 per cent stiffer. Nissan says the roll stiffness rate has been increased by 15 per cent and front and rear dam ping factors have been increased by 40 per cent and 140 per cent, respectively. It was shown at Chicago with five-spoke Nissan-branded 19-inch RAYS forged aluminium-alloy wheels (19x9.5-inch front, 19x10.5-inch rear) mounted with Yokohama ADVAN Sport Y-rated high-performance tires (P245/40ZR19 front, P285/35ZR19 rear). Brakes are standard Nismo Sport Brakes with larger diameter (than standard) 350mm front and 345mm rear vented rotors with four-piston front and two-piston rear aluminium calipers. The calipers are painted red. No confirmation of sale or price has yet been announced for the 370Z Nismo but in Australia, it's expected to be about $90,000, a $15,000 premium on the standard coupe.  

Holy hot baby SUVs, Batman. Nissan has built a custom Nismo Juke up to Gotham City spec. The Nissan Juke Nismo Dark Knight has been revealed – and will be a competition prize -- just as news arrives that the original TV Batmobile will go under the auction hammer in January. The Juke timing ties in with the latest of the Dark Knight movie series, and the car gets an arsenal of batworthy features. Designed at Nissan’s London ‘batcave’ design studio where the Juke was spawned, the special edition is finished in the matt black of the Dark Knight’s own Tumbler, set off with gloss black wheels and red accents. Bat badges on the grille, tailgate and doorsill kickplates are matched by reflective bat logos on the suede sport seat headrests. Door mirror downlights project the classic bat signal onto the ground while an uplighter in the cabin shines it onto the headlining – which is handy if Bruce Wayne is already in the car with you, but otherwise risks the superhero not getting the message. Based on the Juke Nismo, which goes on sale overseas in January, the Dark Knight features the same 160kW 1.6-litre turbocharged engine with a six-speed manual gearbox driving the front wheels – and a claimed 0-100km/h time of 7.8 seconds. There’s no mention of the rubber-bullet machine guns and cannon of the Tumbler, or even the rear rocket thruster, Bat Smoke, Bat Photoscope or other features of the TV car – so we don’t think the Tumbler need fear being sent to the scrapheap just yet. The Juke is being offered as a prize in a UK competition. But those for whom the TV Batmobile will always be the only one are bound to keep an eye on bidding when the original car goes up for auction in January. The 1960s TV Batmobile was customised from a one-off 1955 Lincoln Futura concept prototype that was unveiled on the Ford stand at the 1955 Chicago motor show – in a pearlescent blue-white finish. It also later got a red paint makeover for a bit part with Debbie Reynolds and Glenn Ford in the 1959 movie, It Started With a Kiss. But its life as the Batmobile didn’t start until about five years later, when the TV series brought its air date forward and needed a vehicle within a couple of weeks. The producers dumped the existing car plans and knocked on designer George Barris’s workshop door – behind which the Futura had been gathering dust. The concept car had cost Ford around $250,000, but Barris had bought it from them for a nominal $1 after the Chicago show. He completed the customisation in three weeks – and the Batmobile was born. The car is likely to get bids of more than $2 million when it goes under the hammer in the US on January 19, although auction house Barrett-Jackson has not released an estimate. “The 1966 Batmobile by George Barris is one of the most famous Hollywood cars in history and it has become a true icon that has been carried from generation to generation of Batmobiles to follow,” Barrett-Jackson CEO Craig Jackson said. “This vehicle not only marks the significant Bat logo that sits on the middle of its door, but a time in television history where they defied the odds of making a car the real star of the show. It revolutionized an entire industry that followed in its footsteps and we couldn’t be prouder to have it cross our block in Scottsdale as it goes up for sale for the very first time.”      

...is going to be something very, very special. Originally conceived as a piece of racetrack silliness, the Juke-R is now approved for production and leaked sketches show the super crossover will be just as insane as hoped - or feared. Everything from the track-focussed Juke-R prototype built last year has been carried through for the road, right down to the wings and wild 20-inch wheels added to the compact crossover when it was injected with the heart and soul of the GT-R. Developed by Nissan, but built by motorsports outfit RML in Britain with input from Nissan's European Technology Centre, the Juke-R gets the GT-R's 3.8-litre twin-turbo V6 engine, six-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission and a modified version of its 4WD system. The cabin of the production car is likely to follow the concept, which means the Juke's motorcycle tank-inspired centre console sitting among the arsenal of gauges, dials and 7-in customisable LCD information display from the GT-R. The bad news for Australia is that every Juke-R has been pre-sold to an owner order - despite a price tipping $580,000 - but the good news is that the go-faster project has helped to re-ignite the chance of the trendy Juke coming to Australia. The rounded compact crossover has been a huge hit in Europe and that has convinced the management at Nissan Australia, under go-getter new boss Bill Peffer, to take another look at the Juke. "We're having another look at Juke. But there is no point in bringing the Juke-R if it's not relevant to what we're doing," the spokesman for Nissan Australia, Jeff Fisher, tells Carsguide. "In any case, they are all being made to order. So unless you already have an order you won't be getting one. And we haven't had any orders here, that I'm aware of." But Fisher says the regular Juke box is back on the radar after an earlier rejection based on the cost of the program and an uncertain sales reception in Australia. "Rejected is not really the right word. it was considered to be outside our product line, but things have changed," admits Fisher. "Now, as a niche car and brand leader, it now has its potential. One of the reasons is that it's been so successful everywhere it's sold." Nissan believes the Micra-based Juke, which would sell against a wide basket of trendy rivals including the Kia Soul and Toyota Rukus, might be right as people look for something different in a baby car. "It has a very wide appeal. People buy these things for distinctiveness, more than any motivation towards its use. That's everyone from young singles to mums and even retirees," Fisher says. "So, fingers crossed. But it's still a work in progress."  

Fans of Nissan’s legendary Nismo performance and motorsport division will soon be able to buy Nismo enhanced versions of Nissan’s mainstream models. At the opening day of the Tokyo motor show yesterday (Wednesday) Nissan announced that it was bringing its tuning division in-house, in much the same way as Mercedes-Benz did with its AMG performance division several years ago. Nismo - the name is derived from Nissan Motorsports International - has a towering reputation worldwide for its motorsport endeavours, and its enhanced road cars have long been favoured by performance car enthusiasts. But until now the company's road car activities have been restricted to halo performance cars like the Z series in a small number of markets. The announcement at Tokyo means Nismo will be free to apply its performance expertise across the Nissan road car range in a more integrated fashion.  The decision is expected to drive major sales growth of Nismo-branded performance parts and accessories as well as provide Nissan with premium sports variants of its mainstream models.    The Nissan Juke Concept unveiled at the show was chosen as an example of how a more integrated Nismo might work with Nissan. The Juke is a funky cross-over that’s based on the Nissan Micra platform. The Juke Concept appeared decked out in Nismo's signature colour scheme of pearl white with subtle red highlights, sports-tuned suspension, more power from the 1.6-litre direct injection turbo engine and a chunky body kit. "Nismo adds even more excitement and innovation to Nissan products. We now plan to inject that style and excitement into other models in the Nissan range," says Shoichi Miyatani, President of Nismo. Nissan President and CEO Carlos Ghosn added: "Nismo has carved out an enviable reputation in motor racing. "In fact, in 2011, Nismo cars and engines won in every category they competed in… the first time we have achieved this milestone. “The time is now right to let ordinary drivers experience what our racing drivers enjoy every time they head out onto the track. We aim to bring Nismo's passion and focus on driving excitement to mainstream models, and the Juke Nismo Concept shows what we can do," said Mr Ghosn. The announcement also included the news that Nismo would relocate to an all-new purpose-built global HQ in Yokohama in early 2013. The move will create a global centre of excellence for Nissan’s race and performance car development, as well as offering servicing, parts, a showroom and a museum. Nissan Australia CEO Dan Thompson confirmed that the company would look at adding Nismo products and models to its range but said there was nothing planned in the immediate future. “We’ll study it now that there’s a bit more emphasis around it globally,” says Thompson. “They are bringing it down to the mass market which makes it more interesting for us.”

The quirky Gen-Y Juke was initially only planned as a left-hand drive car for sales in Europe and North America but production in Japan has also made it a prime target for Nissan Australia. There is now a good chance the five-door crossover with the unusual looks will be part of a drive to put more personality into local showrooms, alongside the sporty 370Z and the funky new Micra. “Two years ago we didn’t have space in our portfolio but now we do,” says the managing director of Nissan Australia, Dan Thompson. “We don’t think of it as a large volume role for us, more from a brand perspective to deliver a stylish sporty crossover. The Juke would sit below the Dualis and X-Trail but is designed as an entirely different vehicle focussed more at on-road performance than off-road capability. We already have the X-Trail for that and the Dualis all-wheel drive as well,” Thompson says. The Juke is designed for a younger buyer, from its slightly weird frontal treatment to a motor-cycle inspired interior with plenty of colour-coded highlights around the snug cabin. It is powered by a turbocharged 140kW/240Nm 1.6-litre direct-injection petrol four that delivers the performance of a 2.0-litre with economy of a 1.4-litre. The engine is mated to Nissan’s All-Mode 4x4 system which has been updated to include torque vectoring, which can split torque from front and rear but also can move the torque from side-to-side, balancing driver to reduce understeer. Nissan's vice-president of design and development in Europe, Jerry Hardcastle, says the Juke is being aimed at the same buyer who goes for a Mini. “We hope to repeat the Qashqai (Dualis) experience,” he says. It has been a runaway success for Nissan with more than 200,000 sold globally last year, although it took a re-think on pricing and the introduction of a front-wheel drive model to get it moving in Australia. Thompson admits the Nissan brand has not been as “sexy” as he would like in Australia and the Juke has a chance to help change that. “We also have the 370Z, Murano and Dualis, and they are all heading in the right direction to deliver an emotional connection with the brand,” he says. Thompson says a car like the Juke will help the brand connect with younger buyers and, with the all-new Micra and facelifted Dualis - now with seven seats available - arriving this year, perceptions are changing. “We are very much a commercial and SUV brand at the moment. But the plan is to change that by 2012 to get 10 per cent of market share with cars like the Micra.” But the arrival of the Juke has effectively killed any chance of the square-rigged Nissan Cube coming to Australia. The Cube, a huge seller in Japan and has just reached Europe after the introduction of a second-generation model, was being considered for local sales because of its youth appeal. But Dan Thompson believes the Juke is a better fit for Australian buyers, even the company has looked at the Cube "many times" while trying to build a workable business case. He admits the Cube has taken a hit because the Juke can do the same job better. “It’s really more in keeping with where we’re going," Thompson says.