The Nismo Juke Concept is not quite the Juke-R that we had hoped for but the car does represent an important turning point in Nissan's thinking. Revealed ahead of its official unveiling at the Tokyo Motor Show this week, the pumped-up crossover has been designed to showcase the kind of cars we can expect to see in the future from Nismo, the motorsport division of Nissan.
In Europe, Nismo (Nissan Motorsport) is a relative unknown outside motorsport/tuning circles only offering parts for the hot Z range and the even hotter GT-R, but that is all set to change as Nissan aims to take on BMW's M division and Renaultsport. Officially the Nismo Juke is a concept but a more performance orientated version of the successful crossover would appear to be just the car to announce Nismo on to the global stage.
Painted in the tuning division's signature pearl white paint with red highlights the concept wears an aerodynamic body kit - comprising revised bumpers, wider fenders and side skirts - that dramatically toughens the quirky car. Riding lower thanks to Nismo suspension components and sporting 19-inch alloy wheels the Juke concept's turbocharged 1.6-litre petrol engine has also been breathed on. No performance figures yet but with the current range topper producing 190hp we would expect in excess of 200hp when the car enters production.
The Juke Concept is the first piece of the Nismo puzzle for Nissan with a new purpose built global headquarters in the pipeline that will bring all of Nismo's activities under one roof and lead to a 'a global centre of excellence for race and performance road car development'.