Nissan

Nismo To Take Bigger Role At Nissan

Nissan Juke Nismo 2013 1280x960 wallpaper 01

While at the luxury level there is dedicated performance brands (M Division, AMG, V-Series, etc), there isn’t much of a mainstream equivalent. Street Racing Technology at Chrysler probably comes closest at this point, but even it is slowly transitioning to become its own brand entirely.

after slapping it on everything they could think of for a while, Chevrolet has whittled the SS moniker down to just the Camaro. According to Auto Express, Nissan is looking to put more of an emphasis on performance than ever, with Nismo leading the charge. This development follows Infiniti’s (admittedly tepid) foray into performance with the IPL line.

Nissan Juke Nismo 2013 1280x960 wallpaper 03

Reports say Infiniti intends to get a lot more serious with IPL once the next-generation G rolls around. At Nissan, plans center around making Nismo a sub brand, including higher performance Nismo RS variants. The intent to ape BMW and Mercedes-Benz’s performance success on a mainstream level isn’t a secret. The news comes direct from the brand’s executive vice president Andy Palmer. “Try to think of the Nismo brand as an affordable alternative to Mercedes’ AMG division….normal Nismo versions will get a power hike of around 15 per cent, but the focus will be more on distinctive styling with the red highlights.

We’ll also tune the suspension and steering, so customers can get more out of the power they have.” Nismo RS models, on the other hand, up thhe ante : “RS cars will be much more track-focused. You’ve seen the Juke R, so maybe that would be a good place to start,” Palmer said. Case in point? The model slated to begin the Nismo rollout is the Juke. In Nismo guise it would make around 215 horsepower, while the Juke Nismo RS power would reach the 270 hp level. Big difference, and talk about an entertaining drive – we can’t until the Juke Nismo RS lands. After Juke, the next Nismo model will (curiously) be`1 the LEAF. 370Z and GT-R models are in the works next. No word yet Nissan plans on making it a brand-wide thing, with Nismo version of cars like the Altima and Sentra. Stay tuned.