The title comes courtesy of Keno Kato, the corporate vice president of global product strategy and product planning at Nissan. But the 2016 Nissan Kicks is a little bit more than a crossover for young professionals and urban-dwelling hipsters.
Look beyond the fact that Nissan is billing the Kicks as “aimed at city-living customers” and focus on the bigger picture. What we have here is a crossover that’s expected to cost less than a Juke, even though it offers more legroom for those seated in the rear thanks to a longer wheelbase. Furthermore, the Kicks doesn’t look as cheap as some were expecting it to be despite the fact that it was developed with Latin America in mind.
Slated to hit Brazilian showrooms in August 2016, the Nissan Kicks will eventually find its way to more than 80 global markets via official channels. “With Kicks, we have developed a compact crossover in the best Nissan tradition, and thanks to the unmatched experience, we have in creating vehicles to meet the needs of car buyers around the world,” commented Kato. Full specs and pricing for the Kicks will be released closer to its on-sale date, though it doesn’t take a lot to understand that Nissan will sell this thing by the bucketload.
On the outside, the design team went for a more conventional bodywork than that of the frog-like Juke without trespassing the fine line between interesting and bland. On the inside, the Juke’s motorcycle tank-inspired center console made way for a more usable design.
The dash oozes minimalism without giving the impression of austerity. The available Moving Object Detection and Around View Monitor systems are just two features that make the Kicks a worthy addition to the Nissan crossover lineup.
Nissan has yet to specify if all-wheel-drive is on the menu too, yet think about it this way: the Juke is available with AWD, so is the Qashqai. The all-new Kicks slots bang in between the two and it’s underpinned by the Nissan V platform. The JDM-spec Note hatchback is based on the same architecture and yes, it does come with an all-wheel-drive system provided that you go for a 1.2-liter three-banger and Xtronic CVT.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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