Nissan to launch Kicks crossover in August this year

Nissan Motor Co, which confirmed production for its Kicks crossover in January this year, has begun testing the car on a Nissan Note’s body. Heavily camouflaged test mules of the production car have now been spotted in Brazil which seem to be wearing the actual production body. 

Based on the company’s V-platform that underpins cars like the Micra and Sunny sold in India, the Kicks will be slotted below the Juke crossover. It will be powered 1.6-litre flex-fuel engine, which runs on a blend of petrol and 20-25 percent ethanol. This engine is built at the company’s plant in Resende in the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Nissan, which is to launch the Kicks in May 2016, will manufacture the car at its Resende plant in Brazil.
 

Yesterday, Nissan Brazil celebrated the two-year anniversary of its Industrial Complex in Resende, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. This project is the result of R$ 2.6 billion (Rs 4,986 crore) investment, the first standalone Nissan manufacturing site in the country.

The Resende plant began operations with the production of the Nissan March and 1.6-litre 16V Flex fuel engine. In January 2015, it announced production of a 1.0-litre 12V 3-cylinder engine, and the Nissan Versa sedan.

In January, Nissan CEO and president of Nissan Motor Company Carlos Ghosn announced that the brand's latest global crossover, Nissan Kicks, will be manufactured in Resende for which it will invest R$ 750 million (Rs 1,438 crore) over the next three years.

Hitoshi Mano, vice-president, Operations and Manufacturing, Nissan Brazil, said: "Our production processes in Brazil are among the most highly valued among all Nissan from around the world. We invest heavily in training, new technologies and this has been reflected in the quality of our products and in our market growth. To produce a global model, we are committed to excelling in quality manufacturing."
 

A continuous improvement is a mandate for the Resende team. Recently they completed a R$ 3 million investment for a plastic paint process called wet. In it, the application of the base and the varnish is made soon after the application of primer, making the process shorter and reducing energy consumption. The robots use cartridges for painting – which uses water as a base. This reduces loss of paint and solvents, and decreases the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which leaves the operation more sustainable.