Nissan Kicks concept to go into production soon
Nissan has officially announced that it will begin production of its Kicks crossover concept later this year. It will be manufactured at Nissan's Resende Industrial Complex in Rio de Janerio, Brazil. Initially it will be sold in the Latin American markets. It is likely to be launched in other global markets at a later date.
The Nissan Kicks was first showcased as a concept car at the 2014 Sao Paulo Motor Show and the production version will retain the name. It has been jointly developed by Nissan's Global Design Centre in Japan along with Nissan Design America (NDA) in San Diego and Nissan Design America – Rio (NDA-R).
Nissan has released a teaser image of the production car. It is expected to follow the styling cues of the concept car. The production version is also expected to be quite similar to the concept in terms of dimensions.
"Nissan invented the first crossover in 2003, with the Murano. Since then, we've established our global crossover leadership with vehicles like Juke, Qashqai and X-Trail, which have been great successes thanks to their striking design, innovation and excitement. The Kicks will bring Nissan's unique Crossover expertise to more regions," said Carlos Ghosn, president and chief executive officer, Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.
Nissan's Resende Industrial Complex was inaugurated in 2014 with an investment of $192 million. Once the production of the Kicks begins, Nissan expects to hire additional 600 new employees and start a second shift at the plant.