Nissan Kicks up a fuss with new baby SUV concept car at Sao Paulo Motor Show
Three crossovers clearly aren’t enough for Nissan. The company that already sells the Juke, Qashqai and X-Trail has revealed a new supermini-SUV at this week’s Sao Paulo Motor Show. The Kicks Concept previews a sub-Juke car aimed at the booming Brazilian market.
It’s the second show car to debut at the expo in recent years, following the EXTREM coupé concept in 2012, and is the result of a collaboration between Nissan’s design studios in San Diego and Rio. It’s designed to hit a ‘sweet spot’ between a traditional compact SUV and a performance car.
“Where the stance of the Frontier pick-up might be compared to a power lifter and the GT-R a world-class sprinter, the Kicks Concept is like a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu fighter – coiled for action and precise in every movement,” said executive design director Mamoru Aoki.
The ‘floating’ roof is a new design cue for a Nissan SUV, and draws parallels with Range Rover’s Evoque – although the Kicks Concept’s bulging arches nod to its European brother, the Juke. It’s slightly longer, higher and wider, too, with a longer wheelbase. That suggests if the Kicks does make production in South America and other emerging markets (there are no plans to bring it here), it’ll be a sub-Juke car not in terms of size, but in price and quality.
Small crossovers are booming in South America, where the high suspension and body cladding are perfect for dealing with poor road surfaces.
What do you think of this interesting new concept car? Let us know in the comments below.
0 comments:
Post a Comment