Our spy photographers have captured a camouflaged prototype that could be the next Nissan Juke.
It appears slightly more squared off than the current Juke and the ‘hidden’ rear door handles have been substituted for conventional units, but the chunky haunches look similar as does the design of the tailgate.
It’s worth noting Nissan does sell a slightly larger crossover in markets like Asia and North America called the Kicks, which has a boxier design than the Juke. It’s older, entering production in 2016, and sits on a different platform.
While the current Juke only arrived locally in 2020, it’s now the oldest member of Nissan’s crossover line-up in Australia.
A report from Autocar earlier this year suggested a new Juke would launch in Europe udring 2025, and offer for the first time the option of an electric powertrain in addition to an e-Power hybrid set-up. That would suggest an official reveal could take place in 2024.
Electric Qashqai and X-Trail models will reportedly follow between 2025 and 2027.
All three of these Nissan EVs will reportedly sit on the EV-dedicated version of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance’s Common Module Family (CMF) family called CMF-EV, which underpins the Nissan Ariya and Renault Megane E-Tech Electric.
Nissan’s e-Power system is different to the hybrid systems employed by brands like Toyota, in that the onboard combustion engine doesn’t directly drive the wheels.
The Qashqai and X-Trail e-Power use a turbocharged 1.5-litre three-cylinder engine. It’s attached to a generator which can power the e-motor through an inverter, and charges a small lithium-ion battery pack.
Current Juke Hybrid
That’s different to the hybrid powertrain available in the current Juke in Europe, which is shared with Renault models like the Captur. In this, the engine does drive the wheels directly, and it’s a naturally aspirated 1.6-litre four.
The Juke hybrid was revealed in 2022 and though Nissan Australia ruled it out at the time, the company has subsequently said it’s under consideration.
If a new Juke does launch in 2025, it will mean the second-generation model will have had a much shorter run than its predecessor.
The current model entered production in late 2019, whereas its predecessor was produced from 2010 to 2019.
The second-generation Juke hasn’t proved a smash-hit in Australia. Nissan sold 1084 examples last year, down 54.1 per cent on 2021’s tally (2362 sales). That saw it narrowly outsold by its Renault Captur platform-mate (1207 sales).
Nissan sold 2812 examples of the first-generation Juke in its first full year on the market, but it declined every year thereafter and fell below 2000 units in 2017.
MORE: Everything Nissan Juke
