Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has announced that his company will turn the Kicks concept they trotted out at the 2014 São Paulo Motor Show into an actual car. Looks right between a Juke and a Murano with a little dash of “lifted Maxima.”
So far not much has been confirmed besides the fact that Nissan’s spending $192 million to prep the Resende Industrial Complex in Rio de Janiero where about 600 new employees will be brought on to build the Kicks.
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Kicks will start out as a Latin American market crossover and then be expanded to other markets depending on its success south of our border, Nissan established in a press release.
Based on photos of the Kicks concept from its launch in 2014 it seems like the Kicks will be a on the small side but not quite as compact as the popular Juke. You’ll know that’s a good thing if you’ve ever had to sit in the back seat of a Juke, which is dialed in perfectly for one bag of groceries or a Pomeranian but probably not both.
Will it be fast? Maybe if they make a Kicks-R for an auto show. Off-roadable? I’m sure it will make it through mom’s mulch bed no sweat. But fuel efficiency and easy parking should be the priorities here. Just pair to my phone and beep when I’m about to hit somebody, damnit!
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I actually think the Kicks concept looks kind of sweet. The (most likely) low-power engine hooked up to (probably) Continuously Variable Transmission might not make for the most exhilarating driving experience but there’s room in the world for interesting-looking cars with good fuel economy.
Images via Nissan
Contact the author at andrew@jalopnik.com.
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