Nissan Terrano out, Kicks in!

Nissan dealers have stopped taking fresh orders for the Terrano compact SUV, which indicates that the production has stopped. The Nissan Terrano is all set to be replaced by the Kicks, an SUV that shares its engines and platform with the former, but has completely revised looks. The Kicks will be launched in early January 2019, and bookings will open from the 14th of December, 2018.

The Nissan Terrano was the first badge-engineered vehicle that the Japanese automaker launched in India. The Terrano was based on the Duster and except for styling and interior colour scheme, the SUV was very similar to the Duster. This included mechanicals, and most of the features as well. However, Nissan had to price the Terrano higher as it was a badge-engineered vehicle.

This meant that the Nissan Terrano started off with a big disadvantage in the cost conscious Indian market and never really took off in terms of sales. Nissan did try to give the Terrano some freshness by facelifting it last year. However, even the facelifted model found few takers in a segment that continues to be dominated by the Hyundai Creta. The Terrano’s biggest strength was its ride quality, which was segment leading.

Given the fact that the Nissan Kicks shares its platform and most mechanical components with the Terrano, it’s likely that it will have great ride quality as well. The Terrano was offered with a choice of two engines. The petrol engine was a 1.6 liter, naturally aspirated unit with 104 Bhp-140 Nm. A 5 speed manual gearbox is standard. This engine has been carried over to the Nissan Kicks.

The diesel engine of the Terrano was a 1.5 liter K9K turbocharged unit, available in two states of tune. The lower state of tune was good for 85 Bhp-200 Nm while the higher state of tune offered 108 Bhp-240 Nm. Both engines get 6 speed manual gearboxes as standard while the more powerful tune also offered a 6 speed AMT option. On the Kicks, the same engine will be offered in 108 Bhp state of tune but an automatic gearbox won’t be on offer.

The Kicks will offer significantly more features than the Nissan Terrano, and is also expected to be costlier given all the additional features. However, Nissan will have to walk a tightrope in terms of pricing as the Kicks’ cousin – the Renault Captur – has been one of the biggest flops in the SUV segment in recent times, mainly due to its higher pricing. To avoid the same issue, the Nissan Kicks will need a very sharp price tag.

For now, Nissan India has not indicated a ballpark price figure for the incoming Kicks. We anticipate the SUV to start at a little under Rs. 10 lakhs, which means that it will rub shoulders with the Hyundai Creta. Since there’s no automatic variant on offer, the Kicks could be priced between 10-13 lakhs, ex-showroom Delhi, for all variants.