Nissan Kicks Could Be Assembled In Thailand For ASEAN

Nissan introduced the affordable Kicks compact SUV about a year ago in Brazil, aimed at the Honda HR-V and Mitsubishi ASX.

Initially, Kompass Otomotif believed that the Kicks could be imported from Mexico or India. However, Budi Nur Mukmin, General Manager of Marketing & Strategy at Nissan Motor Indonesia said that importing the Kicks from India or Mexico won't be cheap. He added that sourcing for the Kicks within the ASEAN region makes more business sense.

However, Budi was unable to confirm that the Kicks will be produced in Thailand, as he mentioned that Nissan's Thai counterpart is still studying the possibility. With that said, it won't be a surprise if Nissan decides to utilize its Thailand facility for the Kicks, as the Kicks shares its Nissan V Platform with the Almera and Note, both of which are also assembled at Nissan's Thailand production facility.

Depending on market, the Nissan Kicks can be had with a 1.5- or 1.6-litre engine, which sends drive to the front wheels via a five-speed manual transmission or Xtronic CVT-type automatic. The Nissan Kicks isn't available with all-wheel drive variant. 

As for Malaysia, we understood that the Nissan Kicks could make a debut early next year, likely locally-assembled.