The Nissan Juke has surely received its fair share of criticism over its “love it or hate it” styling. None the less, it does have a performance potential with its newly built turbocharged engine, short wheelbase and all wheel drive. Despite the pre-existing possibility, when Nissan decided to build the ultimate compact crossover they didn’t stick with the 1.6 liter inline four cylinder. Instead, Nissan engineers asked themselves, “What do you get when you cross a Nissan Juke with a Nissan GT-R?” The Juke-R was thus born.
Currently still in the development stages, the Juke-R will be (as of now) a one-off lab experiment. Underneath the massively bulging fenders, huge 20 inch wheels and extruding rear wing, the Juke-R is all GT-R. The same twin turbocharged, hand-built 500 plus horsepower 3.8 liter V6, six speed sequential automatic, and all wheel drive system found in the supercar power the little Juke. Inside are more GT-R bits as the seven inch LCD gauge screen and read-out dials are fitted to the Juke-R’s dash. So the crossover can have the ability to show up plenty of legitimate supercars, a FIA certified five point harness and roll cage are also fitted. The Juke-R will be road legal but there will be only two built: one left hand drive and the other right hand.
“Juke lends itself perfectly to a sports derivative and Juke-R explores that territory. Equally at home on road and track, Juke-R showcases two of the most exciting cars in our range and highlights the technical innovation that drives Nissan. This car will more than live up to the dynamic driving experience we engineer into all our cars,” said Paul Willcox, Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing for Nissan Europe.
