Nissan Kicks India launch has been delayed, is it the Captur effect?
Some weeks back, there were news reports that the Nissan Kicks will be launched in India in 2018. However, currently, various reports suggest that the launch has been pushed to early 2019. When launched in India, the crossover will be positioned above the Terrano. The Renault Captur was launched in end-2017 and has quite failed to take off, in terms of sales. The sales of the Captur are nowhere close to that of the Hyundai Creta, its primary rival.
The reason for the delay is that the company is working on heavily localising the Kicks. Pricing will play a key role in the success of the vehicle. Interestingly, the India-spec Nissan Kicks will look identical to the global model but will be different under the skin. The India-spec model will be underpinned by the Duster’s B0 platform and is likely to come powered by the same 1.5-litre petrol and diesel engines as seen in the Duster and the Captur. Sources also suggest that Nissan could also use the 1.6-litre petrol engine that powers the Brazilian-spec model.
The Japanese carmaker had set a target of acquiring 5% market share in India by 2020 but that seems to be far from reality. The company has postponed the 2020 deadline to 2022 and now plans to achieve 5% market share by launching new models every six months, targeting the under Rs. 10 lakhs car segment and rural markets. The new models will be launched under the Nissan and Datsun brand.
Nissan Kicks India Launch
– Nissan Kicks to be launched in India in early 2019
– Launch delayed due to localisation issues
– The crossover will rival the likes of Hyundai Creta and Maruti S-Cross
