Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn announced on Monday that the Japanese brand will introduce a production version of their Kicks Concept from the 2014 Sao Paulo Motor Show that will retain the same name.
Conceived through a collaboration between Nissan Design America (NDA) in San Diego and Nissan Design America – Rio (NDA-R), the compact sized crossover will be produced at the firm’s Resende Industrial Complex in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and will be sold globally, starting with Latin American markets from 2016.
Nissan said that there are “ongoing studies for other regions”, without elaborating further.
“Nissan invented the first crossover in 2003, with the Murano,” said Ghosn during the announcement. “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.”
In concept form, the Kicks measures 4,300mm (169.3in) long, 1,800mm (70.8in) wide and 1,600mm (63in) tall, with a wheelbase of 2,620mm (103.1in), making 175mm (6.9in) longer overall than the Juke with a 90mm (3.5in) bigger wheelbase, while width and height are about the same as the sub-compact model.