JIMS 2011: NISSAN BLOWS IN LEAF, SIR JUKE

The Nissan LEAF made its first African appearance at the 2011 Johannesburg International Motor Show. The LEAF, which has no petrol or diesel at all anywhere in its veins, runs purely on electricity, thanks to rechargeable batteries. There’s currently no indication is to whether Nissan SA will bring the car over or not, given our sometimes erratic power supply.

The other notable Nissan at the stand was the UK-built Juke, a small compact urban SUV that fits below the popular Qashqai. That car has been confirmed for launch within the next few weeks. Juke features two engines, and a variant of one. The 1.6-litre comes naturally aspirated and turbocharged. In natural aspiration it produces 86kW, while the turbo kicks out 140kW. In Europe there’s also a 1.5-litre dCi worth 81kW. Transmission options include 5-speed manual for the baseline 1.6 and a 6-speed manual for the two 140kW models.

Of course there’s no complete Nissan stand without the GT-R, which is now upgraded to 390kW from the same 3.8-litre V6 twin turbo engine. Nissan says it will go from 0 – 100km/h in just 3 seconds flat!