Nissan Juke-R Gets Facetime

For those of you who were on the fence about the Nissan Juke, you may now have a reason to jump onto the "like" bandwagon.

The Nissan Juke-R, a performance version of the sporty, compact crossover, made it's presence known with artists renderings of the car - a Juke body with the Nissan GT-R V6 (somehow) powering it.

This is all in advance of the SEMA show in Las Vegas on Nov. 1.

Here's the scoop (http://www.autoweek.com/article/20111004/CARNEWS/111009972) (and video) from AutoWeek:

By Dale Jewitt - AutoWeek, 10/4/11]

Nissan Juke-R: What happens when a GT-R and a crossover get too cozy

http://autoweek.com/galleryimage/CW/20111004/CARNEWS/100409999/PH/1/1/juker1.jpg&MaxW=630

Shoehorning a twin-turbo V6 from a Nissan GT-R into the little Juke crossover--that's the type of craziness we've come to expect to show up at the annual SEMA show in Las Vegas.

But Nissan's not waiting for SEMA. Its European tech center has performed the powertrain transplant, with the help of race team Ray Mallock Ltd., to create the Juke-R.

Actually, it's creating two Juke-Rs (and only two), one left-hand drive and one right-hand drive.

Now, the Juke is no slouch with its standard 188-hp, 1.6-liter turbocharged engine. But the 3.8-liter V6 pumps out 485 hp in the GT-R. Nissan has not said what the power rating is of the Juke-R, but we expect it will be in the same neighborhood as the GT-R. Sorry, no performance specs yet, either.

Ray Mallock Ltd. also mounted the GT-R's six-speed transaxle in the Juke-R. And the GT-R's gauge setup, including the reconfigurable center screen, was transplanted. The package is complete with a pair of racing seats, a fully exposed roll cage and 20-inch Rays forged alloy wheels.

Nissan wants to draw attention to the success of the Juke in Europe, where more than 100,000 were sold in its first year on the market. In the United States, Nissan has sold nearly 27,500 Jukes since the crossover went on sale early this year.

SEMA surely would have no problem finding space for the Juke-R.

Video of the Nissan Juke-R:
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[ [ [ [ [ [ [ [ OUR VIEW ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ]

Sign me up! One of the fun things about automotive (at least in my mind) is seeing how much power you can fit into a shoebox of a car (so to speak).

While the likelihood of this being a production car is slim to nil, the concept is awesome and would be an awesome addition to the performance side of the Nissan brand.

What do you guys think? Does an R version of the Juke make it look more appealing?

Yeah, I highly doubt this will see production. That being said I think the Juke is hideous. They should have called it the Puke. However, those concept drawings would be a massive improvement.