The Nissan Juke small SUV will get an electrified boost this year when the crossover is updated with a Renault-sourced hybrid drivetrain in Europe.
The Juke hybrid will aim to showcase “a true hybrid powertrain”, the brand says, with a Toyota-aping 100% electric startup, ability to move under electric power and low fuel consumption.
The Nissan Juke hybrid has not been confirmed for Australia, however if it did come here it would compete with other hybrids such as the Toyota C-HR and Lexus UX 250h.
The Juke looks similar to before but is very different underneath
Locally, the Juke is sold only with petrol power in the form of a 1.0-litre turbocharged three-cylinder engine making 84kW of power and 180Nm of torque, sent to the front wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic.
The Nissan Juke in non-hybrid form sold 2362 examples in 2021 – a big jump from the 1048 units sold of the previous-gen car in 2020. That was still a long way off rivals like the Mazda CX-3 (12,873 sales) and the Toyota Yaris Cross (7828).
Hybrid technical specifications
The new efficient engine has come to be thanks to the Nissan Alliance, where Nissan supplied the main electric motor while Renault provided the smaller 15kW high voltage starter/generator.
The main electric motor produces 36kW of power and 205Nm of torque and supplements the 1.6-litre internal combustion four-cylinder engine that produces 69kW of power and 148Nm of torque. Combined fuel consumption is rated at 4.3L/100km.
Combined outputs for the hybrid system is 105kW/ 353Nm
The automatic gearbox paired to this powertrain is unique in that it does not use a traditional clutch. Instead, it uses dog clutches to shift between the four internal combustion gears and the two EV gears. The electric power is used to synchronise shifts between gears so they operate smoothly and efficiently.
The gearbox is controlled by “an advanced algorithm” – making it sound complex if mechanics need to get involved.
During testing of the Juke, Nissan said it achieved up to 80 percent of urban driving in pure EV mode. The Juke hybrid can reach speeds of up to 55km/h in pure EV mode without any engine intervention.
Black grille trim carries over from the rest of the Nissan electric range
So how will I know how to spot a Nissan Juke hybrid?
Hybrid badges have been applied to the front doors and the tailgate to make the hybrid version of the Juke stick out from the pack.
The front grille now sports the new Nissan brand logo along with a new strip of black gloss material to match other electrified models in the range.
The hybrid badges are one of the only ways to tell this car apart from a regular Juke
All new two-tone 17-inch alloy wheels will feature at the same time as the debut of the Juke hybrid.
Inside, the central driver cluster features a 7.0-inch screen with a dial on each side, the one on the left showing the power gauge and the one on the right showing speed.