The wildest crossover ever to make the transition from concept to production, the new limited run Nissan Juke R that utilizes a modified version of the GT-R’s platform and twin-turbo engine, is ready to be placed into the hands of a select few customers.
Nissan announced today that the first Juke-R road car has been built and tested and is now on its way be delivered to its new owner, adding that production of car No002 is “well underway”.
The Japanese carmaker said that the exact price of the Juke R’s depend on the precise specification requested by each buyer, but noted that it starts from a whopping €500,000 (about US$652,500) a pop, or more than five times the cost of a GT-R in Europe (6.5 times in the U.S.).
The street-legal, production version of the Juke R is more powerful than the 485bhp concept, as Nissan used the latest GT-R’s 545bhp twin-turbocharged 3.8-liter engine that allows for an estimated 0-100km/h (62mph) sprint time of 3.0 seconds and a top speed of 275km/h (171mph).
Besides the newer engine, the Juke-R No001 also sports some cosmetic changes thanks to input from the experts at Nissan Design Europe (NDE) in London, UK.
“The Juke-R’s bumpers and side sills were redesigned, which is normally a very long process using full size models in clay. However, we managed to condense the development time using full size viewing on our new 3D ready projector and power wall, maintaining a fully digital process while providing a true supercar quality finish to Juke-R,” explained NDE’s Digital Team Manager Darryl Scriven.
Other design refinements include a re-sculptured front bumper, more protruding tailpipes, and new carbon fiber trim on the front and rear cooling vents and the rear aero diffuser, as well as the interior on the GT-R-sourced steering wheel, and the center and lower consoles.
Together with the announcement on the production Juke R, Nissan also revealed that both the hand built Juke R and the sported up Juke NISMO Edition that was unwrapped in Paris last month, will star in the new Gameloft Asphalt 7: Heat racing game for iOS and Android, smartphones and tablets.
The automaker said that Asphalt 7: Heat will be available to download before the end of 2012 from both Apple Store and Google Play for €0.79 or roughly 1 USD at today’s exchange rates.
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