Nissan Juke makes its debut in Qatar

Juke, the new aggressively styled compact crossover from Nissan, was officially launched in Qatar yesterday by Saleh Al Hamad Al Mana Company, the exclusive distributors for Nissan, Infiniti and Renault.“Juke is light, nimble, vibrant and urban, and aimed at a younger market bored with lookalike hatchbacks,” chairman and managing director Hisham Saleh al-Mana stated. Made in Japan, Juke’s unique combination of motorsport-inspired exterior and interior design and unexpected levels of technology is going to make it a hit in the fast-growing compact hatchback/crossover market, he claimed.General manager Abdul Wahab Itani described Nissan Juke as ‘the daughter’ of Murano, the world’s first crossover.From a design standpoint, the lower portion of Juke is pure SUV. It combines chunky wheels wide tyres, extended ground clearance and a robust stance with a top portion resembling a sports car with a high waistline, slim visor-like side glass graphics and a coupe-style falling roofline.The coupe effect is further underlined by the rear doors, which have their handles hidden in the frame of the door. Inside, the sports car theme continues with a cockpit oriented cabin dominated by a centre console design inspired by a motorcycle fuel tank.Finished in a distinctive high gloss colour – metallic red or grey – the ‘bike’ console adds a sense of fun to the car. The rear opening hatch and versatile luggage area (seats split 60/40 and fold down to create 830 litre of loading space) with hidden storage space (44 litre below the board) are among the attractions.The Juke is based on the flexible Renault Nissan Alliance B platform. Suspensions are MacPherson struts at the front with a torsion beam at the rear.“Two versions of the Juke are available, the 1.6 litre, 107hp model starting at QR75,000 and the other 1.6 litre direct injection turbo engine generating 190hp and priced from QR99,000, both with Xtronic CVT transmission,” marketing manager Ananth James said. The combination of direct injection with a turbocharger provides the power and responses expected from a 2.5 litre engine, but with the economy of a smaller engine.Standard equipment across the S and SL grades includes integrated control system which gives the driver the chance to optimise the car’s functions to suit their needs, two airbags, electronic stability programme, full auto air conditioning, Bluetooth and a CD/radio.

Micra launch in MarchNissan Micra, the global compact hatchback, will be introduced in Qatar in March, Saleh Al Hamad Al Mana Company chairman and managing director Hisham Saleh al-Mana said.“Designed and tested in Japan, the Micra is made in India,” he said. Commercially launched in India in July 2010, Nissan Micra is also meant for advanced markets such as Europe and the Middle East and Africa.The Micra has been fine-tuned to meet the different tastes and needs of customers in both developed and emerging markets.