Some Time Back,

 we posted that if we were in the market for a new car,

we would chose the Nissan Juke, well here is the new Infiniti ESQ recently displayed at a popular Beijing shopping mall, if you haven't heard of the Infiniti ESQ but its distinctive style seems more than a little familiar, welcome to the club, if you're looking to buy one, well, welcome to China – Nissan's Juke has been bumped up to Infiniti status and it's only being sold to Chinese carbuyers, which is a shame as under the bonnet (hood), is the Juke Nismo's 1.6-litre turbocharged direct-injection engine developing 197bhp at 6000rpm and 184lb ft of torque between 2400-4800rpm, the engine is coupled to a CVT, which sends drive to all four wheels, in fitting with its Infiniti branding, the ESQ bypasses the entry-level powertrains available for bread & butter Jukes, the engine is to be complemented by all-wheel drive along with a torque vectoring system, in the pre-facelift Juke Nismo, that engine is good for a 0-62mph sprint time of 7.8 seconds and a top speed of 134mph, expect fuel economy of around 40.9mpg and CO2 emissions of 159g/km. 


so, why does China get what westerners would no doubt want? according to Infiniti global communications manager Stefan Wienmann (in a statement to AutoBlog), the brand sees “specific sales opportunities” in China's burgeoning compact crossover segment, as well, the ESQ “enables us to gain experience in positioning a new premium model to the 'new millennials', a customer group that is very important to us” I wonder if the Infiniti ESQ Juke will eve be imported over here?