Nissan Kicks crossover confirmed

Nissan has confirmed that it will be bringing the Kicks concept into production. The concept made its debut at the Sao Paolo motor show in October 2014. The project was led by Nissan’s Global Design Centre in Japan but featured involvement from Nissan’s San Diego and Rio-based design teams.

The confirmation comes with Nissan officially releasing a teaser image of the production car which is set to be manufactured at the company’s Resende Industrial Complex in Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil. The production Kicks is expected to follow the concept closely in terms of styling and have near identical dimensions to the said concept as well.

This means that the crossover will rival the Fiat 500X when it goes into production. Nissan Latin America chairman José Valls said the model has been designed with a Latin American focus because of the rapidly increasing demand for compact crossovers in the region. “With Nissan Kicks, we will go beyond the obvious to pack a punch with a strong design statement and the performance that our customers crave,” he added.

According to Nissan, the concept was designed with inputs from its design studios in North and South America, and the production model would be influenced heavily by the culture and fashion of Latin America. It also revealed that the production of the Kicks would lead the company to hire 400 more employees and start a second production shift at its Rio facility.

The production Kicks crossover is slated to go into production later this year with the model’s initial launch planned for Latin American markets before being introduced in other markets globally.