Nissan will launch the Kicks compact crossover in Europe and build it at its Sunderland plant in north-east England, backed by a £170m investment. The B-segment model uses the company’s e-POWER hybrid technology and will be produced alongside the Qashqai, Juke and LEAF.
Cars from Sunderland will go to customers in the UK, Europe and Turkey. The announcement comes in the plant’s 40th anniversary year.
A Global Seller Arrives in Europe
The second-generation Kicks is currently built in Japan, Mexico and Brazil and has passed 1.8 million sales across more than 70 countries. Sunderland production marks its European debut and adds another e-POWER model to Nissan’s regional line-up. It becomes the tenth model allocated to the plant, following the Bluebird, Primera, Micra, Almera, Note, Infiniti Q30, Juke, Qashqai and LEAF.
Nissan‘s regional chairperson, Massimiliano Messina, described the decision as proof the company can move quickly to bring new models to new markets, and said European buyers want electrification with a choice of powertrains. The plant’s manufacturing vice president, Adam Pennick, called it a fitting way to mark 40 years of production. UK Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds welcomed it as a vote of confidence in British manufacturing.
How e-POWER Works
In e-POWER, the wheels are driven only by an electric motor, while the petrol engine acts purely as a generator that recharges the on-board battery. Nissan says this delivers the smoothness and instant response of an EV without the need to plug in.
The Kicks will use the third-generation system launched in 2025, which Nissan says was re-engineered for better fuel efficiency, lower emissions and greater refinement. Since 2016 more than 1.9 million e-POWER vehicles have been sold worldwide, including 200,000 Qashqai e-POWER models built in the UK.
Sunderland at 40
Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK is the country’s largest single-site car plant. It has received £5 billion in investment, supplies more than 100 markets, employs around 6,000 people directly and supports a further 30,000 supply-chain jobs.
Since the first Bluebird in 1986 it has built 12 million vehicles, roughly one every 1 minute 45 seconds. From next year it will also build the third-generation Juke, which will be fully electric for the first time.
Separately, Nissan has announced a new A-segment small electric car called the PIXO, due to be unveiled next week.