Before Renault got a hold of Nissan in 1999, the Japanese carmaker's sales were dwindling, and the company was quickly following in Isuzu's footsteps. Not good. Then of course Carlos Ghosn took Nissan by the hand and led it down the yellow brick road towards prosperity.
Today Nissan is on a roll, so it can afford to kick back and have a laugh now and again. Looking at this Juke-R, Nissan's European personnel must be falling off their chairs: it's completely mad. But first we must forgive Nissan's marketing bods for the ridiculous notion that the brand pioneered the crossover, although we can definitely take their word for it when it comes to establishing the super-crossover niche. After all, this is a 485bhp Juke. Well, actually it's a GT-R squeezed into a Juke-shaped suit.
So far the car is only a one-off concept to test the public's reaction to something so bonkers, but even then only two Juke-Rs will be created — one left-hand drive and one right-hand drive. And although the challenging experiment had its fair share of difficulty, the engineers expect to complete first tests next month.
Now, in order to fit the GT-R drivetrain and 3.8-litre twin-turbo V6 into a Juke, engineers were required to seriously flare the wheel arches, completely revise the front and rear bumpers with a chin spoiler and split rear wing, and drop the whole car low down to the ground and its 20in rims.
The GT-R's six-speed transaxle is retained, helping to evenly distribute the Juke-R's weight while sitting at the rear to join the modified GT-R all-wheel drive and prop shaft. Inside, it gets gauges and 7.0in display from the GT-R, as well as Godzilla's three-spoke steering wheel.
Of course, they left the Juke's swoopy centre console intact, while the rest of the cabin features twin racing bucket seats, five-point harnesses and an FIA-approved roll cage.
That last bit not only stiffens up the car, but will also protect you should you attempt to break the 7:30 minute barrier at the ‘Ring in a Juke.
Spec R
We only just got used to the insane power levels of the current Nissan GT-R. But pretty soon, we'll have an even quicker car to play with. Rumours of there being an even more audacious version than the 530bhp model for 2012 have been growing by the day. Though no launch date has been set, you can expect the new Spec R, which replaces the Spec V, to be tearing up your local track soon. And, in the same manner it was caught destroying the Nürburgring recently. Angrily.
The new car is believed to have even better handling thanks to a tweaked suspension and a sharper transmission along with improved underbody aerodynamics. But the main talking point is the power increase. Prepare yourself for around 40bhp more, making 570 in total.
This also means an even quicker acceleration time and higher top speed, though no figures have been mentioned anywhere.
Visually, it gains new rims, a new front bumper with a different, more aggressive spoiler lip and a new carbon fibre rear wing.
We can't wait for the keys.
