Nissan to kick-start new chapter in India with the all new Kicks
Demand for SUVs in India is picking up well. Almost all the OEMs in India have a product in this category. This new-found love for power and prestige boosted the SUV market in India by 21% in 2017-18 over the previous year, compared to an overall passenger car industry growth of 8% in the same period. Going by the frenetic demand and anticipated product launches, more Indians will be driving SUVs or MUVs by 2020. It is expected that SUV sales will continue to grow at a strong rate in the next decade, as India moves ahead to become part of the global automotive triumvirate or the Big 3.
Nissan, the Japanese auto major who’s global crossover and SUV sales increased more than 12% in 2017, representing an increase of 230,000 vehicles. The rise in vehicle sales were mainly driven by the Nissan Kicks, a subcompact SUV, the Rogue, X-Trail and Qashqai compact models, the Armada full-size SUV, and the Infiniti QX30 compact luxury crossover. Since the new Kicks has attracted the global market, the Japanese company decided to bring it to India to revive its market and cement its position especially in the SUV segment.
Nissan India wants to build brand Nissan on its SUV heritage along with new age connectivity technology. Therefore the company has designed the Kicks specifically for the local market. It is longer, taller and wider than the model sold overseas. Kicks in India is built on M0 platform and shares it with Renault Captur and Duster. Though Kicks is from the same platform, according to Nissan, it has undergone lot of changes to suit the Indian taste.
Curvy and edgy
The design of Kicks holds
together plenty of character lines through the sheet metal and lots of interesting colour schemes that include two-tone treatments. The design of the Kicks is identical to the global Micra-based model. Kicks looks more like an SUV than a crossover thanks to its sharp and edgy detailing. The new Nissan Kicks is among the best looking subcompact SUVs. It has enough interesting features to give it flair without going overboard. All Kicks models feature a “floating roof” design. Roof rails come standard across the line for added practicality, which means it can carry 100 kg of load.
In the front, the high-set bonnet gets upward sweeping sleek headlamps. There’s an LED projector for the low beam and multi-reflector lamps for the high beam. The fog lamps are halogen units and that’s surprising considering the design looks identical to the Captur’s LED units, and the Kicks is supposed to be a premium offering. The Captur also packs full LED headlamps with dynamic indicators. In between the headlights, the Nissan’s signature V-Motion grille takes the centre position. The outside rearview mirrors are borrowed from the Captur and are mounted on the doors.
Premium interior
While the exterior styling is trendy, Nissan has tailored the interior more traditionally. Once stepped in, Faurecia manufactured dual-tone brown and black theme, leatherwrapped soft touch dashboard and door trims make you feel more premium. A tall windshield and giant side windows give good visibility to all inside. The interior is usable and roomy but during long drives, the absence of dead pedal to rest your foot hurts and even with the seat height lowered. Back-seat passengers won’t be stretching
out much, but they won’t feel as if they should gnaw off their legs at the knees, either. It’s a surprisingly efficient cabin for 5. Behind the seats is 400 litres of cargo room, which puts the Kicks near the top of the class.
Technology offerings also are good in the Kicks. A 8.0-inch floating infotainment system with support for Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, 360-degree camera, and Nissan Connect make the Kicks an intelligent SUV. Its other features include automatic air-conditioning, cruise control, and nice-to-have features like push-button start, cornering lamps and driver’s side armrest. The armrest also acts as a rear AC unit, which has a proper coil set-up unlike the other cars that has just a blower unit. But the design of the armrest could have been much better as it is difficult to approach the parking brake. It adds another vital active-safety feature, the blind-spot monitoring with Nissan Around View Monitor with a 360-degree bird’s-eye view.
Power pack
Kicks borrows the powertrains from Renault Duster and Captur. The petrol engine is a 1.5-litre (1,498 cc) 4-cylinder unit, producing 105 bhp @ 5,600 rpm and 142 Nm of torque @ 4,000 rpm, paired to a 5-speed manual transmission. The diesel is a 1.5-litre (1,461 cc) 4-cylinder unit too, producing about 109 bhp @ 3,850 rpm and 240 Nm of torque @ 1,750 rpm, paired to a 6-speed manual transmission. The Kicks is relatively nimble and surprisingly comfortable given its size. A small turning radius makes U-turns and parking maneuvers a breeze. Once the engine comes into life and even after passing 2500rpm the NVH levels are good inside the cabin. Tenneco supplied struts up front, a torsion-beam set-up in back, and the quick steering, helps Kicks to handle nicely. The Kicks is nimble and more fun to throw around than larger SUVs. The suspension is tuned more for comfort, and it provided a well-cushioned ride even over the pitted and crumbling roads. The steering is direct and accurate, but there’s very little feedback that comes up from the road to the driver’s hands. It rides on twin fivespoke machine-cut alloy wheels shod with 215/60 R17 radials.
Will it kick-start?
I found the Kicks to be good enough that it works in a wide variety of situations and environments. It’s small enough to be great in the city, has enough passenger and cargo room. With the right amount of styling, nicely tuned powertrain and comfortable cabin, now Nissan has to price it aggressively and promote it rightly to appeal to a wide range of buyers. The lack of automatic transmission is a big omission for that will understandably turn off some shoppers. But if you don’t need automatics, the Kicks is worthy of your attention and a great addition to the Nissan line-up that was in need of a kick-start.