Nissan Kicks Saves Its Company In India — Sales Increase By 55 Per Cent

The new Nissan Kicks has boosted the overall sales of its company in India by 55 per cent, compared to the same month, last year. Prior to the launch of the Kicks five-seater SUV, the company was having a tough time on the Indian market with a good majority of sales coming from its subsidiary, Datsun India.

The Nissan Kicks couldn't manage to get in the list of top 10 best-selling cars in India — here's the model-wise car sales report of January 2019.

To give you an idea, the Japanese-origin brand sold only 224 units back in December 2018 while Datsun India clocked 2141 units. Coming to January 2019 i.e after the launch of the Nissan Kicks, the figure went up to 1500 units (3146 units with the inclusion of Datsun models). The company sold 1370 Nissan Kicks units in the very first month of launch itself.

The new Nissan Kicks is a really good product. Launched at a starting price of Rs 9.55 lakh ex-showroom (India), the Nissan Kicks features some class-leading equipment along with good driving dynamics. We have already driven it and you can check out our thoughts in the detailed Nissan Kicks review.

The Kicks was already on sale in various global markets before it finally reached Indian shores. However, the India-spec Nissan Kicks isn't just a cost-cut version of its international sibling, but engineered from the ground up to suit the Indian driving conditions and customer needs. In fact, the Indian version is a bit bigger than its foreign counterpart.

On the equipment front, the Nissan Kicks comes with an 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system, ECO mode, 360-degree parking camera, Hill-Start Assist, cruise control, traction control, etc. The compact-SUV is also based on a unique GRAPHENE (Gravity-philic Energy Absorption) body structure.
There are two engine choices: 1.5-litre H4K petrol and 1.5-litre K9K DCi diesel. The petrol engine makes 106bhp and 142Nm of torque while the diesel unit is good for 110bhp and 240Nm. The petrol variant gets a five-speed manual transmission and the diesel has a six-speed. There is no word on an automatic variant yet.

In India, the Nissan Kicks mainly rivals the Hyundai Creta, Renault Captur, Maruti Suzuki S-Cross and arguably the winner in the segment, the Tata Harrier (read the review here).

Thoughts On Nissan India's Sales Improvement

As mentioned before, Nissan India was not doing particularly well in terms of sales. The company is now back on track, thanks to the all-new Nissan Kicks. However, the brand will show even better sales performance if it updates its entire portfolio comprising of the Micra, Sunny and the soon-to-be-discontinued Terrano.