The Nissan Juke will go on sale from October, following its global public premiere at the Geneva Motor Show.

The car was inspired by the Qazana concept car that received such a warm reception at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show and will fit into the Nissan range between the Note compact family car and the Qashqai crossover.

Nissan's customer research identified a large proportion of European small and compact car buyers whose needs are not met by what they perceive to be uninspiring and unoriginal options available to them where copycat hatchbacks dominate.

The Nissan Juke has been designed and developed to give customers an alternative to the traditional small hatchback in Europe.

“We know that there are a lot of customers that are looking for a car which combines striking design, agile handling and driving pleasure, user friendly technology but not at the expense of practicality and convenience. These unique attributes will allow Juke to occupy a unique corner of the European market," said Simon Thomas, Nissan's European senior vice president for sales and marketing.

Juke will be manufactured alongside the Qashqai, Qashqai+2 and Note at Nissan's manufacturing facility in Sunderland.