Nissan confirms Kicks to be produced at Brazilian plant

Nissan has confirmed plans to produce the Kicks, a budget crossover, for the Latin American market. This vehicle was first revealed as a concept car at the 2014 Sao Paulo International Auto Show.

Originally designed to compete with the Duster in the budget SUV market, the idea stemmed from the requirement to build a crossover for the thriving Brazilian car market. It'll come off their production line at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil that was inaugurated in 2014 and currently produces the Latin American Nissan Micra. The design flair behind the Kicks is the collaborated result between Nissan’s design studios in San Diego and Rio. 

Carlos Ghosn, president and chief executive officer of Nissan said, "Nissan invented the crossover in 2003, with the Murano. Since then, we've established our global crossover leadership with vehicles like Juke, Qashqai and X-Trail, which have been great successes. The Kicks will bring Nissan's unique crossover expertise to more regions."  

Small crossovers are flourishing in South America where buyers need tall suspensions and body cladding to cope with the bad roads.