THE head of Nismo has promised the firm’s tuned Juke will be the first in a range of hot Nissan models.
Flown over from Japan for the first public unveiling of the Juke Nismo, Miyatani-San told a press conference at Le Mans that we can look forward to plenty more exciting models.
‘The Juke is designed to incorporate motorsport aerodynamics and performance,’ he said.
‘It will be launched in Europe in January with big performance. It will have horse power and handling that drivers can really enjoy. But it’s just the start of new Nismo and we’ll be soon coming to market with more versions.’
Simon Sproule, corporate vice president for global marketing communications, said he believes it’s time Nismo hit the ‘prime time’.
‘It’s known by enthusiasts, but Nismo is now ready for a wider audience,’ he added. ‘Nissan has always had sports cars, we have performance in our company DNA, and Nismo will allow us to extend that. Juke Nismo is just the start of a series of Nismo products.’
No decisions yet
Miyatani-San explained all models in the Nissan range were being considered for Nismo treatment, but no decisions had been made yet as to which will be next.
The ‘March Nismo’, essentially a Micra Nismo concept (pictured above), was recently unveiled, but Miyatani-San said it was still a concept.
However it shows that even the baby of the Nissan range could be in line for some Nismo treatment in the future.
Jerry Hardcastle, Nissan’s technical guru, added: ‘Clearly we’d like to work over all new models for Nismo.
‘We tweak ride, handling and performance and it’s hard for me to say what we’ll do completely but I can say the Z is likely to be next. The team are looking at all models.’