Supercars beware: the Juke-R is back

Supercars, be afraid: there’s a new Nissan Juke-R on the way.

If you need a reminder, the original Juke-R was the Frankenstein mash-up between the cuddly, friendly Juke crossover and evil, angry GT-R sports car.
 
It looked, quite frankly, terrifying, and proved more than muscular enough to blow Lamborghinis into the weeds when we took Nissan’s one-off promotional Juke-R to Dubai.
 
Supercar completists were so bemused, several of them sent Nissan empty cheques requesting a teeny production run.
 
Perhaps that success explains why, at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, the Juke-R will return. And this time with Nismo badges.
 
That suggests that this is an upgrade from the old, 478bhp Juke-R, to one utilising the engine and clever AWD tech of the Nismo GT-R. That means 597bhp, 466lb ft, super-hard suspension and potentially fewer kilograms to shift than before.
 
Nissan insiders have hinted the drivetrain beneath has already been 'halfway up' Goodwood Hill, a not-so-subtle suggestion that this is a clever recycling of the car cycling hero Sir Chris Hoy infamously pranged at the 2014 Festival of Speed.
 
We’ll know for certain when it sees the light of day – and hopefully not the darkness of a haybale – at the end of June. The most teasing of teaser shots above suggests even more steroidal styling, with massive, red-trimmed air intakes below those big googly headlights.
 
Our hunch is that it will be another, promo-minded one-off produced by RML in the UK, though suitably silly offers could prompt another mini production run.
 
Excited? Or would you rather hang on for the hybrid, next-gen GT-R itself?