Nissan is planning to introduce a hybrid version of its smallest SUV sold in Australia.
But don’t rush out to your local dealer just yet, because we’re not likely to see a petrol-electric version of the Juke to go up against the Toyota Yaris Cross hybrid before next year at the earliest.
There’s even a strong likelihood that Australia may have to wait until the third-generation version of Nissan’s small SUV from Europe surfaces sometime from 2027.
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According to Nissan Oceania Vice President and Managing Director, Andrew Humberstone, the move to a hybrid powertrain is inevitable given where the market seems to be headed.
“Juke, for me, is an interesting one,” he told CarsGuide.
“I think we need to look at where we can go with the new technology in the Juke. I think (hybrid) is where the space will be, where it starts to get more traction. What new technology can we bring in there, in terms of managing, you know, the gap between internal combustion engines (ICE) and electric, right?
“(But the hybrid) will not come to Australia this year.”
Why not, when total industry demand for hybrids in 2024 soared by 76 per cent over the year before, and that growth rate was topped only by a 100.2% leap in sales for plug-in hybrids?
The very customer-focused boss of Nissan Australia and former head of Nissan Europe – who has instigated this month’s shock introduction of a dealer-service-activated 10-year/300,000km warranty with “flat” priced capped servicing, transferable and conditionally back-dated to 2021 models – insists that his team remains flexible enough to pivot with evolving buyer preferences.
“I think we're seeing (that) in the next two to three years… we need to be very elastic in terms of what we're trying to do,” Humberstone said.
“That’s because the market is so fluid. And so, it's really around getting the timing right and not trying to bring something in that’s not fit for purpose, just because we think it's about bringing the right product at the right time and managing customer expectations.
“It's a common-sense solution. The question is, at what time (is right)?”
In the meantime, Nissan is undertaking more research to fine-tune exactly what type of appetite for hybrid powertrains exist at this end of the SUV market in Australia.
“For me, (hybrid) is where we need to look, and we need to understand from our dealer network and customers what kind of scale there is there,” Humberstone added.
“To me, that's where the opportunity sits.”
Based on the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance’s CMF-B platform and sharing many components but no body panels (unlike next year’s Mitsubishi ASX) with the second-gen Renault Captur, today’s Juke has only offered an 84kW/180Nm 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbo petrol engine since its 2020 launch in Australia.
But, elsewhere, the British-made light SUV has also offered a 105kW/205Nm 1.6-litre four-pot petrol-electric hybrid option courtesy of the Captur since 2022. Not only does it use less fuel compared to the regular turbo petrol version (4.7L/100km versus 6.0L/100km), it shaves 1.7 seconds off the leisurely 11.8s 0-100km/h sprint time. Win-win for buyers.
The next-gen Juke, meanwhile, will reportedly use the same ‘AmpR Small’ EV-only architecture as the coming Nissan Micra EV supermini (itself based on the acclaimed new Renault R5 E-Tech), though it is highly likely that ICE and hybrid versions of the small SUV are also under development, as demand for EVs slow in some regions.
Whether the latter morphs into a variation of the lower-cost Kicks small SUV program (related to the Juke and sold in more price-sensitive parts of the world since 2015) remains to be seen. A Kicks e-Power EV-first hybrid grade has been available for some time in some markets, including in right-hand-drive Thailand, suggesting that this may be the path Nissan takes for the next-gen Juke.
Whatever transpires, it seems certain that the Juke hybrid, or something related to it, has a future in Australia.
Aided by freer supply and an update that brought improvements across the range, Juke sales in this country leaped up by one-third over 2023’s results.
That said, its 1674 registrations are a far cry from the 18,461 buyers (up 17%) that the bestselling – if ageing – Mazda CX-3 managed, or the 8200 units (up 26%) recorded by the now-hybrid-only Yaris Cross.
