Nissan Kicks

Nissan’s Indian revival kicks off with the, errr, Kicks

- Sirish Chandran

NISSAN HAS BEEN AWFULLY quiet of late as they rework their strategy for India — which will now focus on SUVs — and the revival starts here. The Kicks is to Nissan what the Captur is to Renault, a more stylish alternative built off the tried-and-tested Duster platform with the same engines and same mechanical package but a new top hat. But unlike the Captur, that has received lukewarm response at best, Nissan have focussed very heavily on styling and in the process turned out a compact SUV that really turns heads, giving it a fighting chance of taking on the Creta.

Global nameplate, but India-specific SUV

Globally, the Kicks is based on the new Micra platform which India doesn’t get, deemed too expensive for the country. And so the Nissan Kicks you see here is the India-specific model which, as the chief engineer for the SUV Hashimoto-san says, is now being strongly evaluated by other markets as well. Lessons have no doubt been learnt from Alliance partner Renault’s experiment with the Captur and so the styling department have been given a free hand to completely transform the Duster/ Terrano on which it is based. And the result is an SUV that, either from inside or outside, will not remind you of what it is based on.

The styling is full of flourish — all cuts, slashes and the entire gamut of Nissan’s global SUV design cues to rework every single sheet metal panel. It runs on 17-inch tyres on the top-end variant, maintains the Duster’s 215mm ground clearance, yet still looks balanced and proportionate without any unseemly wheel arch gaps. The roof rails are also functional and can take up to 100kg. Overall it is a design that everybody will love — particularly in this shade of grey with the orange floating roof — and, very importantly, equally serious work went into transforming the interior rather than raid the parts bin.