Nissan Kicks new life into Sunderland; hybrid SUV coming to UK
Previously reserved for emerging markets, Nissan’s small SUV is confirmed for the UK, and will bring £170m investment to North East
The Nissan Kicks will soon be on sale in the UK and Europe, its maker has confirmed. The small e-Power hybrid SUV should sit closely alongside the third-generation, electric-only Juke in Nissan’s range and be built in the same Sunderland factory.
First launched as a concept car at the Sao Paulo Motor Show in 2014, the Kicks entered production two years later – primarily for Latin American markets. It replaced the Juke in the US and Canada in 2018, but has never been offered in Europe or the UK.
The second-generation car, which will be built in Sunderland as part of a £170m investment, was revealed in 2024. It is currently sold in global markets including Brazil, Argentina and Mexico, as well as Japan, the US and the Middle East. However, while some of these countries get a choice of 1.0-litre and 2.0-litre petrol engines, it’s understood UK cars will feature Nissan’s pioneering e-Power hybrid tech.
Dimensionally similar to the outgoing Juke (4.21 to 4.37 metres long) the two cars both occupy the popular small SUV segment. However, with the next-generation Juke going electric-only, Nissan will hope to continue its predecessor’s success by offering the petrol hybrid Kicks.
A hugely popular model globally, the Kicks has sold more than 1.8-million units across 70 countries. It’ll be the 10th model to be built in Sunderland since the plant opened in 1986. From next year, the factory will assemble the Nissan Qashqai and Kicks hybrid SUVs, plus the new Juke and Leaf EVs – the latter of which is now available to lease for as little as £308 per month via the Auto Express Buy A Car service.
News of the Kicks coming to Sunderland comes alongside confirmation of the new Renault Twingo-based Pixo electric city car. That model, developed as part of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, will be built at the Novo Mesto plant in Slovenia.
Nissan hasn’t confirmed when production of the Kicks will start, but with the Leaf only just coming on stream and big work needed to get next-generation Juke up to speed, it’s likely to be summer 2027 before the Kicks launches in the UK.
The outgoing Juke starts from £30,295 in e-Power Hybrid guise, though cheaper ICE-only versions are available. However, given the Kicks was initially designed for emerging markets like Latin America, there’s a chance Nissan may look to lower the entry point to help it compete with newer rivals such as the Dacia Duster and Citroen C3 Aircross, as well as competitive Chinese models like the MG ZS and Jaecoo 5.
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