Cars & Autos | Monday 11 May, 2015 12:44 pm |

Nissan’s recently facelifted sub-compact crossover, the Nissan Juke, is recording staggeringly buoyant sales throughout the GCC countries.

Since launching the FY14 model of the Nissan Juke, Nissan has recorded average sales of 294 units per month between April 2014 and January 2015. In less than two months since the upgraded vehicle became available in the showrooms in February 2015, regional sales jumped to 668 vehicles per month, an increase of 127 per cent.

Nissan also revealed that the total number of Nissan Juke vehicles sold in February-March hit 1,336 with March witnessing the popular urban crossover record its best-ever GCC-wide monthly sales of 855 units. The year-on-year increase versus Financial Year 2013 is 42 per cent for the region.

Samir Cherfan, managing director, Nissan Middle East, says: “The impressive results are a testament to the Japanese auto maker’s innovation and experience in the Middle East and proof of Nissan’s commitment to delivering what customers want and an outstanding dealership network.”

“The Nissan Juke is in a highly-competitive segment but the sales since the facelifted version came on the market have been tremendous. However, the numbers are not surprising as the Nissan Juke set a new benchmark the moment it hit the Gulf showrooms. Nissan Juke is a unique vehicle and has been a major success since its inception. The market in the Middle East has taken it to its heart. It is comfortable ride and with rapid, sporty response. The vehicle achieving its best monthly sales on record in the region reflects how special the Juke is,”Cherfan adds.

The Nissan Juke was unveiled to the regional public at a special launch event party in February under the theme of ‘Take a Stand’ and designed to make the Juke stand out for its target audience, the urban creatives. Nissan created the event in line with the crossover’s ethos, supporting freedom of expression and creativity. They did this by putting on a full show with DJs and experiential areas dedicated to the Juke’s three core areas of innovation – its design, performance and technology. The launch event created such a high level of awareness of the new Juke in the region that it has been directly linked to the surge in sales experienced.

The Nissan Juke has been a major global success since being launched in 2010 including throughout the Middle East. Revisions were made to the vehicle but not at the expense of the traits that have made the vehicle an unqualified success. Nissan’s innovation excites and the automaker has a storied history in the Middle East with awareness of the requirements of the customers.

Nissan Juke’s GCC-wide SUV-S market share rose from 3.7 per cent in Financial Year 2013 to 4.2 per cent in financial year 2014. While results throughout the region were strong, sales in the UAE for Financial Year 2014 were exceptional, increasing 64 per cent over the previous corresponding 12 months. It was a similar situation in Oman with sales soaring 62 per cent in the last financial year compared to 2013’s financial year.

Nissan made a number of revisions to the sub-compact crossover to enable it to stay ahead of its rivals.

The upgraded Nissan Juke retained signature aspects including its dramatic front-end design. It is powered by a choice of either a 1.6-litre naturally-aspirated engine or a 1.6-litre turbocharged 4-cylinder engine, the latter being direct injection.

Three driving modes – normal, sport and eco – are available, along with a new audio system, the latest-generation NissanConnect connectivity technology.

Maximum engine power for S & SL Grade is 86(117)kW(ps)@6000rpm with 158Nm of torque. The SL Turbo grade has maximum engine power of 140(190)kW(ps)@ 5600rpm while torque is 240Nm.

The three grades are available for the new Nissan Juke, S, SL and SL Turbo.

Exterior revisions include tweaking the upper front lamps (now with LED daytime runners), updating the grille, toughening up the under-bumper trim, redesigning the door mirrors (adding LED repeaters and new rear view camera) and creating a more aggressive rear bumper to match the revised tail-lights which now have LED ‘light guide technology’.