Nissan Juke Nismo launched in Japan and Europ

Nissan took the covers off of the Juke Nismo at the recent 2013 Tokyo Auto Salon, and will be taking Japanese orders for the car from February 1. Juke Nismo, the first model in Nismo’s new brand strategy (announced at the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show) focusing on creating premium high-performance sports vehicles, has also arrived in Europe.

We first saw the Juke Nismo as a concept at Tokyo 2011, before Nissan brought along the production car to last year’s Le Mans 24 Hours race.

Under the Juke Nismo’s bonnet is a reworked version of Nissan’s 1.6 litre Direct Injection Gasoline Turbocharged (DIG-T) petrol engine. Apparently, the engine features the same technologies as the unit installed in Nissan’s experimental DeltaWing race car, although they didn’t elaborate.

Both power and torque have been increased in comparison to the standard DIG-T engine, but boosts in output don’t come at the expense of emissions and efficiency. Power rises by 10 PS to 200 PS, and torque is up by the same amount to 250 Nm.

Two models – front-wheel-drive with a six-speed manual and an 4WD with CVT and seven-speed manual mode – are available. The 2WD model does 0-100 km/h in 7.8 seconds and has a top speed of 215 km/h, while the 4WD model manages 8.2 seconds and 200 km/h.

Along with added speed, the Juke Nismo has 37% more downforce compared to the stock Juke, thanks to aero parts such as a reshaped front bumper (both ends made wider to redirect air around the front tyres), new spoiler, new side skirts (prevents air from flowing to the underbelly) and roof spoiler (extended and positioned at an optimum angle).

Like the standard Juke, the 4WD model gets Nissan’s ALL-MODE 4×4-i with torque vectoring system (TVS). As well splitting torque front to rear – up to a maximum of 50:50 – TVS can also shift torque from side-to-side across the rear axle.

Information collected by various sources (measuring wheel speed, steering angle, yaw rate and lateral G-force) is interpreted to anticipate the driver’s intention. TVS actions are relayed to the driver via a real-time graphic display on the instrument panel. In addition, Nissan Dynamic Control System lets the driver alter throttle maps, steering effort and CVT shift schedules, among other things.