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Nissan seems to have a golden hand for mini-utes. First, they had to put in a third shift in Europe for their unpronounceable Qashqai crossover. Now, news reaches us from Japan (via The Nikkei [sub]) that orders for their Juke compact SUV that went on sale in japan a few days ago, the monthly sales target of 1,300 units by over 300 percent in the first week alone.
As of Tuesday, Nissan had received orders for 5,296 units. Nissan plans to roll out the car in Europe and the U.S. this fall. When the car was shown in Geneva, our Ed Niedermeyer called it a “crossunder.” In a commemorative mood, we re-release the b-roll Ed had shown back when.
26 Comments on “Nissan. The Juke’s On Us...”
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Looks like a baby Aztek.
+1. But, even the Aztek sold. Sadly.
P.S. VERY annoying camera work.
So…japanese love strange looking thing? Anything new? But seriously the design is at least different, but I think that Nissan is trying to be different like the Cube, wich to me is a better design all around…
The looks…yeah, that’s quite a bit to stomach. I’m more interested in a small turbo 4 with the trick AWD. While usually I prefer something a bit lighter and closer to the ground, this thing could be a hoot and a bargain. Will reserve judgment until I scare the Nissan salesman during a test drive.
What a bile inducing vehicle. At least the Aztek was exploring the unknown market for quirky and bizarre vehicles. There is no excuse for Nissan to create such visual pollution. It’s a conventional and bland vehicle, until you get to the large molded plastic mess up front. No excuse at all.
While in Tokyo last week, I was mercifully spared the eye cancer that is the Juke. The Nissan Gallery in the Ginza was only exhibiting one car: the Leaf. It’s bigger than I thought.
While this class of vehicle is not my cup of tea, I like it. I like the fact that it’s not trying to look like (insert your favorite European brand here). As an Ex-Scion XB owner (2004 model), I believe there are Japanese cars, and there are American/Euro cars that originate from Japan.
This is a Japanese car (probably designed in a European design studio).
I’ve said it before: Nissan squeezed all the ugly out of the 350Z, and used the mess on the floor to make this wretched abortion of a vehicle. May god have mercy on their souls.
Since Nissan already has the Venza and Cube on this platform, I see nothing wrong in taking a chance on some bold styling.
As indicated by the early sales, there are quite a few people who appreciate the styling. Are all you cry-babies the same ones who moan about new bland cars (ie. Jetta) all looking like Corollas and Camrys?
There’s bold (Murano, FX), and then there’s stupid (Juke, Aztek, Multipla, Rendezvous, etc).
Nope, I don’t moan about bland cars, so… uh. Right. Yeah.
I don’t oppose the Juke because it’s different, but because it’s horrifyingly ugly. When it comes to design, there’s nothing ballsy about failure.
I like the way it looks. Of course, I like the KIA Soul too…
The Venza is from Toyota.
Nissan’s always been the Chrysler of the Japanese Big 3…
All I see is a PT cruiser driving through a funhouse. I thought we were talking about a Nissan?
Insideline have a review of a test drive of it fyi.
I think it looks better in black and it competes against the mini cooper I believe.
I’m going to buy one of these.
Just to piss off all the people who think that their opinion of what’s ugly matters to anyone but themselves.
Sheer ugliness, not the bad-ass ugliness, like the BMW Z3 Coupe, but the ugliness that results when a fat housewife dresses up with some fancy clothing.
Look, how Nissan copied the Alfa 156’s hidden rear-door handles. Alfa did it with the 156 to give the illusion of a sleek, coupe-like, two-door car. Great styling idea.
With Nissan it’s only a copy-catted gimmick, adding to the overall fat-housewife ugliness.
@srogers: Useful hint: Never buy a car to piss off people. It will end the same way as buying a car to impress people. You’ll have some unwanted POS.
Too funny!
The alfa 156 with that handle came out in 1997. The pathfinder used them in 1996. Guess nissan didn’t do the copying.
I love the juke and all it’s ugliness. Heck everyone says the Versa is ugly too but did anyone compare the sales numbers of a Versa to a fit or yaris. You will be quite surprised.
The Pathfinder first used the hidden rear door handles when the 4-door version was introduced for 1989(?). It had some legitimacy since the rear two doors were grafted onto the 2-door body, and the idea seemed to be to hide the rear doors. They succeeded, since a few times rear-seat passengers who didn’t notice the back doors demanded to be let in via the front doors
Ironically, the original Aztek concept was not intended to be as large as it eventually came out (i.e., based on a minivan).
In that respect, these ‘out-of-the-box’ designs like the Juke need to be priced and sized for that lower end of the market where individualism, to the point of fugly and bizarre, sells.
I like everything about the Juke except the lights on the hood. It’s far better than so many of the other boring cars out there, with the same design details.
This thing will sell like hotcakes. The ladies are all gonna want one. I barely talked my wife out of the “cube”- it had less trunk/hatch space than your average sedan! But, oh, the cute factor…..
Well, so I have learned something new. I never had a look at the details of the Pathfinder.
I actually think it looks fantastic… not surprised that it actually sells.
What else do you get in the compact crossover class, anyway? Boring retreads like the Sportage? The Juke may look unusual, but that’s because it eschews tradition styling for something different. The Aztek was just a mess of mismatched cues.
Unique sells. Just ask the Prius.