TOKYO: Rumours are rife that Nissan has approved production of its insane JUKE-R NISMO 2.0 that recently made its debut at the UK’s Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Packing the same 441kW/650Nm 3.8-litre twin-turbo V6 from the GT-R NISMO supercar, the rebooted JUKE packs almost 80kW more than the original limited-edition JUKE-R released in 2012.
With the added power expect the new GT-R enhanced crossover to hit 100km/h in less than three seconds, beating the original JUKE-R’s 3.7-second time. Top speed is, again, expected to be limited at 257km/h.
Differing significantly to the regular JUKE are new carbon-fibre bumpers – with bigger air inlets up front and a lower rear diffuser. There’s also a new carbon-fibre tailgate spoiler, side skirts and even wider wheel-arch extensions.
While many car websites announced that Nissan had confirmed a limited run of 17 cars, motoring.com.au spoke to Nissan UK which was adamant that no announcement had yet made.
Thought to be handmade, like the original JUKE-R of which only three examples were sold, the new JUKE-R NISMO is expected to cost around $600,000 apiece — even if production was increased to a batch of 17 cars.
The mad all-wheel drive JUKE-R should not be confused with the tamer JUKE NISMO or JUKE NISMO RS production models sold in the UK, where they were powered by tweaked versions of the 1.6-litre turbo-petrol four found in the standard JUKE Ti-S, but offering up to 160kW and 280Nm in front- and all-wheel drive form.
The JUKE NISMO is expected to be part of a three-model NISMO model range to be launched here, including the GT-R NISMO and 370Z NISMO.
