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Nissan to build production Juke-R supercars

Because of high interest in the high-powered concept Juke-R, and firm offers for three of the cars, Nissan says it will build a very limited run of its Juke/GT-R mashup.

Wayne Cunningham Managing Editor / Roadshow
Wayne Cunningham reviews cars and writes about automotive technology for CNET's Roadshow. Prior to the automotive beat, he covered spyware, Web building technologies, and computer hardware. He began covering technology and the Web in 1994 as an editor of The Net magazine.
Wayne Cunningham
2 min read
Nissan

Last year a Nissan department based in Europe came up with the strange idea of putting the GT-R's engine in the new Juke small SUV. The car was introduced as a concept, and Nissan probably thought that was the end of the matter. Like most concept cars, the Juke-R would be consigned to a lonely corner of a garage, and eventually disassembled.

A strong positive reaction from the car-loving public, which must have taken Nissan by surprise, dictated a different fate for the car. After the Juke-R's first public appearance, in Dubai of all places, Nissan capitalized on its popularity by releasing videos of it racing a Ferrari, a Lamborghini, and a GT-R.

All along, Nissan insisted the oddball Juke-R was nothing more than a concept.

That is, until one of Dubai's wealthy elite made a firm commitment to buy two Juke-Rs, if Nissan would make them. Another undisclosed individual also joined in, running Nissan's Juke-R up to three.

And with that, the company says it will build more of the cars, as long as more people come forward. The company even offered up an e-mail address, Juke-R@Nissan.co.uk, where parties can express interest.

Nissan does not say how much one of the mighty Juke-Rs would cost, however. Given the source of one of the initial offers, we can assume a lot. Probably a lot more than a GT-R.

To juice up the offer, Nissan says its production Juke-Rs will use the running gear of the 2012 GT-R, meaning 545 horsepower from its twin-turbo 3.8-liter V-6. The concept Juke-R, based on the 2010 GT-R, only had 480 hp.

Nissan also released a new movie of the Juke-R on its Facebook page. Click here to watch.

If this idea really takes off, Nissan can start a whole new R division, producing the Altima-R, Versa-R, and Pathfinder-R.