Nissan's fresh approach to hot hatching with the
Juke NISMO
appears to have paid off; our recent
Blood Brothers
revealed that the quirky crossover is outselling the
Renault Clio RS
it shares so much with by three to one.
Juke RS is intriguing, this even more so
At next month's LA show, Nissan will unveil the Juke NISMO RS, a harder-edged Juke that should make the little oddball rather more appealing to us automotive troglodytes. It's part of NISMO's two-pronged approach to performance cars, where the standard NISMO model will tread a slightly less focused path than the flagship RS cars.
The NISMO RS has been previewed by the Juke RC. Our colleagues at Autocar briefly drove the 220hp prototype and came back with plenty positive to say.
No official details have yet been released, but the production Juke NISMO RS is likely to make around 220/230hp from the 1.6-litre turbo. A firmer, lower suspension set-up (it'll be down to normal hatch levels soon) and some uprated brakes are probably on the cards also.
Whilst this is all encouraging news, there is of course an even more promising subtext here. Surely a faster Juke means a similarly enhanced Renaultsport Clio is feasible too? We've already heard rumours of a Gordini, and it would certainly answer some criticisms that the latest RS200 Turbo lacks some edge in its standard form. Let's wait and see!
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