We've known for some time that Nissan is anxious to enter the hot hatch segment – in Europe at least. The all-new Pulsar is scheduled to launch quite soon, but already we're hearing rumors about the Nismo-badged high-performance version. Auto Express claims the production version of the Pulsar Nismo will debut at the Paris Motor Show in early October, but it won't go on sale for at least another year. What we also know is that Nissan has no immediate plans to sell the Pulsar in the US.

And that's a damn shame because the Pulsar Nismo could pack as much as 275 horsepower. The choice of engine could very well end up being the same 1.6-liter turbo four that's also used for the Juke Nismo. Along with the Volkswagen GTI, Nissan is also setting its sights on the Ford Focus ST and Honda Civic Type R. The latter is also a Europe-only treat. Whatever the case turns out to be, we'll have our answer in Paris.