More hot Nissans to follow tuned Juke

05 December 2011 - 23:37 By Motor Mania
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The Nissan Juke Nismo is finished in pearl white
The Nissan Juke Nismo is finished in pearl white

Nissan has revealed a bold new future for its Nismo performance arm.

One of the undoubted stars of the Tokyo Motor Show - which opens today - will be the Nissan Juke Nismo, which gives an idea of how a premium sports version of the successful compact crossover could look.

With its distinctive styling, the Nissan Juke has redefined the competitive B-segment, but the Juke Concept is even more dramatic. It's lower, wider with a tougher stance.

"The global sales success of the Nissan Juke has proved beyond doubt that customers are looking for something different," said Andy Palmer, Nissan's executive vice-president. "The Juke Nismo Concept takes that idea to the next level. It's energetic, distinctive and highly desirable."

Finished in signature Nismo colours of pearl white with red highlights, the Juke Nismo Concept has a body kit created by Nismo's aerodynamic specialists whose skill has been honed perfecting bodyworks of racers.

As on a racing car, the Juke Nismo Concept body kit is designed not just to look good, but also to be dynamically highly efficient. New parts include revised bumpers front and rear, wider fenders and sill side skirts. The Nismo treatment extends to the chassis which has been lowered and stiffened using proprietary parts of the sort that will be available from the expanded Nismo's parts catalogue, while the 1.6-litre direct injection turbo petrol engine has been uprated to deliver more power and performance.

Nismo touches can also be found in the interior, where parts such as the steering wheel, pedals, gauges, shifter knob and door trims have been redesigned to provide greater involvement when driving.

To further underline performance aspects of the car, leather-trimmed bucket seats have been added while the tachometer dial and needle are illuminated in red.

"As the concept shows, Nismo brings new levels of individuality to mainstream Nissan cars like Juke. The future for Nismo is to develop premium sports designs for an ever-widening range of customers," said Nismo president Shoichi Miyatani.

"Our new ranges will be as accessible and innovative as every Nissan, but with added Nismo energy they'll be even more fun to own and drive," he said.

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