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Making Snow Tracks: Nissan Juke NISMO RSnow Blasts Across Lapland

Photo Credit: Nissan

Nissan is an automobile brand definitely focused on going places. Intent to become a global challenger, the Japanese-born car company has increased its profile on almost every front. In the past several years, Nissan expanded their commercial vehicle brand into the lucrative United States/ Canada, made their electric-powered Leaf one of the most-produced vehicles of its kind and has expanded their motorsport interest with NISMO. At the beginning of this week, Nissan introduced the successor to last year's Le Mans-contending ZEOD RC as they took the covers off the GT-R LM. In Sweden, a produced-based product of Nissan's NISMO brand found the fast lane on a surface very familiar to Canadians in the middle of winter.

Turning an all-wheel drive Nissan Juke NISMO RS into a mean 197-horsepower snowmobile, a level of winter traction has been made possible by replacing the tires with tracks. Fitted with snow tracks provided by Dominator Track Systems, the Nissan Juke NISMO RSnow demonstrated the ability to guide through 50 centimeters of deep powder snow at a frozen Uddjaur Lake in Arjeplog in Lapland. Weighing 810 pounds, the snow track system could handle speeds of up to 80 kilometers per hour. A few minor tweaks were required for the Nissan crossover. Cosmetically, the Juke NISMO RSnow received slight modifications to the front and rear fascia. Nissan also reprogrammed the torque-vectoring AWD system to provide a more optimized driving experience for the Juke NISMO RSnow on the Swedish terrain.

The custom equipment of snow tracks is not a new process for automobiles. Specifically in Canada, numerous Ford Model T cars were fitted with tracks to the rear wheel area and skis at the front during the early 20st century. On the American Track Truck website, numerous other examples of modern snow track-equipped trucks and sport utility/crossover vehicles exist with all-wheel drives. A sample of the list of vehicles compatible with the Dominator Track Systems tracks includes Chevrolet Silverado, Ford Escape and Range Rover. Even the Subaru Impreza could for fitted with the snow tracks.

To see the Nissan Juke NISMO RSnow in action, the automaker provided the following Youtube clip:



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