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Though the Nissan IDx is still dead, Chief Creative Officer Shiro Nakamura believes a more “innovative and exciting” Juke may make up for the loss.
At this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, Nakamura told evo the IDx, though “very special,” didn’t fit with the automaker’s consistent, “very strong brand expression,” and thus, would not be built “at the moment”:
If we have say, 120 degrees of diversity today, maybe I’ll direct it down to 90 degrees. Our cars need to be more clearly identifiable for consumers.
One car Nakamura aims to be “clearly identifiable” is none other than the second-gen Juke, which is said to “inherit the spirit” of the current model, while avoiding a rehashing of said model’s look.
Another redesign in the works involves the GT-R. Nakamura says it won’t likely be inspired by the front-driven GT-R LM Nismo Le Mans prototype, it would carry-over some elements, including the grill, glasshouse and quad tail lights of the current GT-R.
(Photo credit: Nissan)
No, a FWD econo-based crossover does not “make up for the loss” of a small, fun and affordable RWD coupe (or even sedan). I wouldve been willing to walk into a Nissan showroom if the IDx wouldve been built, but nothing there interests me now. Same goes for the Kia GT-4 Stinger, which everyone has evidently forgotten about. I hope its in development, but if not, at least we’ll get a new Soul, right? *rolls eyes*
As though Ford said “well, we were going to introduce a new Mustang for 2015, but instead we created a new Sport trim for the Edge.” One of these things is not like the other!
Ha! This is like if Chevy dropped the Camaro, but then released a statement to the effect of, “Don’t worry, we made a Equinox with a body kit! It’s all good.”
Or built a convertible sport-truck on an SUV platform.
Nothing about the Juke is “innovative and exciting” unless “ugly and stupid” are what the Nissan man really meant. I’ll give him credit however as the Juke is “clearly identifiable”.
So I translate his marketing speak into:
“We know people don’t buy small RWD vehicles but since we make gobs of money on lifted wagons… sorry crossovers, that is what we will continue to build”.
Innovative and exciting? Certainly. The Juke (and Murano) were first in their respective segments.
Current Juke just needs a better engine without all the damn lag. I would have been happier with ours if it had just used the 2.4 from the Altima.
Less laggy turbo, absolutely. Current turbo lag is scary and dangerous.
Also needs:
– bigger gas tank
– better fuel economy
– better sightlines
– better comfort: padded armrests anyone?
– less plasticky interior
I have a 2011 Juke with the manual transmission-and the lag isn’t bad at all. The CVT really, REALLY amplifies the lag feeling. The current 1.6 engine isn’t bad at all without the CVT (We had a loaner Juke with a CVT for about a week and Hated it).
U G L Y
I was one of the few people who sorta liked the Juke. Then Nissan said, “Sorry, no stick unless you want a $25,000 NISMO.”
Frankly, at this point I wonder why Nissan offers anything with a stick. I don’t think they want to sell them.
And no torque vectoring AWD with stick. Im sure they would sell like six of those if offered, but i would be totally interested…
So does 90 degrees of diversity rather than 120 translate into a Juke that’s 25% less ugly?
Forget Juke, Altima and other Stanzas. Gimme that beige IDx with 2 liter, stick shift and at 2600 lbs. Call it Sentra SE-R or something.
Am I the only one who sees a dumb, happy, tail waggling dog in that picture? At the very least they could use a different accent color than red.
Edit: Found the 1st gen version: http://goo.gl/7pD2WN
No, Sir, you are not.
I tried to reach through the screen and pet it.
Once you realize that red front spoiler is a tongue, you can’t unsee it.
But they didn’t answer the real question that discerning minds want to know: Will it still look like a frog?
Jesus. Just say you couldn’t make a business case for the IDx. The End. We’re all grown ups.
As for the Juke, say what you will, it has made Nissan money. I like the way it looks and by most reports it is somewhat fun to toss around.
What Nissan could stand to do is increase the displacement to 2 liters on the hotted up NISMO version so it could make some real power. A Pajero Evo by way of Nissan would be neat.
I hope that the next Juke will be longer than the current one. I currently own a Versa hatchback. A Juke could be an interesting upgrade only if it has as much trunk space than the Versa. Otherwise, the HR-V is a better Fit…
You could sell that IDx as an interesting thing, which would STAND OUT and bring people into the showroom to buy an Altima or Juke. Making all the cars the same amount of bland isn’t gonna help you out any in the long run. People would ASK what it was and find out, not wonder what it was, and assume it was not a Nissan because it didn’t look like their cousin’s Maxima.
Stupid.