Although it wasn't the first manufacturer to introduce crossovers to the market, it was the likes of the Juke and the Qashqai selling in such large numbers that opened up the floodgates for almost every other manufacturer to follow suit.
The original Nissan Juke, a slightly smaller sibling to the Qashqai, took full advantage of the popularity of the so-called Chelsea Tractor at the time.
It took the traditional 4x4, slimmed it down, offered it for a modest price, put it on sale and watched it fly out of the showrooms.
And yet, despite its popularity, the initial Nissan Juke didn’t really have that many standout features, while its frog-like looks divided opinion.
But the latest version improved it massively, adding hybrid power in the form of a 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol mill and a small electric motor, outputting 143PS.
This is still available today, alongside the entry-level (and significantly cheaper) DIG-T 114 engine, a 1.0-litre three-cylinder unit offering 114PS.
Nissan also unveiled an overhauled infotainment system and a nicer interior. Plus, it added stylishness to the exterior design without completely interfering with the compact shape that had brought it so much success.
Now Nissan is set to take another step forward with the Juke, which is set to go all-electric in the not-too-distant future.
It has unveiled something called the Hyper Punk – an ultra-futuristic concept car which features triangular LEDs on what appear to be airless tyres.
The concept also features a side with so many creases in so many different directions that it looks like an optical illusion.
Indeed, the Hyper Punk seems more UFO than a car, and if such looks ended up on a vehicle, it would surely be one of these crazy one-offs that you see from tiny manufacturers in sheds trying to earn their fame by building the fastest production car in the world.
As such, we don’t expect this level of insanity will be reflected in the Nissan Juke of the near future. At least not yet. But it could take inspiration from it.
Nor do we expect the Juke to have the Hyper Punk's reported 23-inch wheels, either.
The face of the Ariya, which was Nissan’s first all-electric crossover SUV launched in 2022, is arguably a more likely source of inspiration to clothe the new Juke.
Either way, Nissan is not an automaker afraid to take risks with the looks of its cars, so we'd expect the diagonal bars on either side of the grille to remain. However, they're chrome on the current Juke but accented by LED lightbars on the all-electric Ariya.
Likewise, we'd imagine the new Juke will be closer to the Ariya's interior rather than the utterly insane cabin design of the Hyper Punk, which blends jagged shapes into a display with two giant red eyes staring at the driver.
Because Renault owns part of Nissan, the two manufacturers enjoy an ongoing partnership, sharing some of their electric vehicle technology. Consequently, the new Juke will use the same CMF-B platform as the forthcoming all-electric Renault 5 city car, which the French manufacturer has brought back after a near 30-year absence.
That will likely give it access to 40kWh and 52kWh batteries, with a probable range of 200 to 250 miles from a single charge.
It should also indicate that the Juke comes with V2G (Vehicle-To-Grid) technology, meaning you can install a special wall box at home, which will output the car's battery power. In practice, this means an electric vehicle can supply your household electricity if it's plugged in in the event of a power cut.
While this technology isn't unheard of on today's electric cars, it is still relatively rare - but likely to become commonplace in the next few years.
The future all-electric Juke will be in keeping with Nissan’s promise to deliver 19 electric vehicles (EVs) before 2030 – at which point it plans to kick the combustion engine to the kerb altogether.
Prices and specs are some way off. But given that one of the main appeals of the Juke has been to offer as large a car as possible at a price affordable to most, we hope the electric Juke of the future can still deliver.
Of course, EVs tend to command a hefty premium over conventional petrol and diesel models. However, some automakers show signs they can reduce this premium a little.
In that regard, we’re still some way off price uniformity between combustion-engined and electric cars. Nevertheless, Nissan no doubt hopes that this parity starts to balance out more in the EV market when it ushers in the brand-new Juke, likely in 2026.