Nissan Kicks compact SUV: The wait for the Hyundai Creta challenger just got longer

A week ago, the head of Nissan India said that a new SUV would be arriving soon, in India, in order to boost sales. The Nissan Kicks compact SUV is the vehicle in question that was expected to launched by this year’s festive season. However, Overdrive now reports that the Kicks will be delayed, and will be launched in India only in early 2019. The Kicks shares its engines and platform with the Renault Duster/Nissan Terrano and Captur models. In other words, the Kicks is based on the tried-and-tested B-Zero platform. In India, the Kicks is likely to be positioned in a similar price bracket as the Hyundai Creta.

Talking of engines, we expect the Nissan Kicks to borrow both petrol and diesel engines from the Captur/Duster/Terrano. This will allow Nissan to keep costs low as most components in these engines have already been fairly localized. It’s important for Nissan to not only price the Kicks very competitively but to also make sure that the parts of the vehicles are localized enough so as to keep the costs of service and spare parts low. The petrol engine on the Kicks will be a 1.6-litre, naturally aspirated unit with 104 Bhp and 140 Nm. Five-speed manual and CVT automatic gearboxes will be offered on the compact SUV.

The diesel engine will be the 1.5-litre K9K turbocharged unit, in 110 PS-248 Nm state of tune. A 6-speed manual gearbox will be standard on the diesel Kicks. It remains to be seen if Nissan offers the 6-speed AMT unit on the Kicks, but it’s unlikely given the fact that AMTs are not considered to be refined enough for use in Rs 10 lakh+ cars. The Kicks will get a monocoque platform, and will be front-wheel driven. While Nissan does have the capability of offering an all-wheel drive system on this SUV, such an option is unlikely for the Indian market considering the low demand for such a variant.