Nissan confirms Juke for Australia

NISSAN has finally confirmed it will bring the funky Juke compact SUV to Australia in the third quarter of next year.

Nissan Australia managing director Bill Peffer confirmed the highly anticipated decision today at the Australian International Motor Show in Sydney, saying we would get it starting with July or August production.

A Nissan insider further advised GoAuto that the Pulsar-based Juke will be sold here in both front-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive forms.

As GoAuto reported in July, the Juke was almost certain to come to Australia after Mr Peffer replaced Dan Thompson, who had previously ruled it out here, as head of Nissan Australia.

Mr Peffer was previously Nissan North America marketing communications director and saw first-hand the success of the Pulsar-based Juke in that market, even though it was designed specifically for the European market.

He was open about his enthusiasm for the vehicle, which has been a global success story for the company.

The British-built Juke appeared briefly in a 45-second Nissan Australia TV commercial titled “What if” that aired in July, which made it clear the SUV had been written into the local product plan.

Built on the same platform as the forthcoming new-generation Pulsar, the Juke is powered by a range of engines, including a 1.6-litre petrol developing 86kW and 158Nm, a 1.5-litre diesel producing 81kW and 240Nm, and a performance model with a 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol unit pushing out 140kW and 240Nm.

All are expected to be offered in Australia, along with both manual and automatic (CVT) transmissions.

Juke has become something of a youth-oriented icon since it was revealed as a concept at the Geneva motor show in March 2009 and as a production car a year later.

It was released in Europe, Japan and the United States in 2010, and is also sold in New Zealand.