Having been stuck with the same naturally-aspirated petrol engines since its reveal, the Nissan Kicks is finally receiving some new powertrain options this year. First, the B-segment SUV was given the e-Power range extender electric variant in Thailand, and India is now a recipient of a turbocharged petrol engine.
Under the bonnet, you’ll find the HR13DDT, a 1.33 litre direct-injected turbo four-cylinder that makes 156 PS and 254 Nm of torque – outputs that Nissan says is best in class. If that engine sounds familiar to you, that’s because it’s the same one you’ll find in the W177 Mercedes-Benz A 200, albeit with slightly lower numbers.
The engine is sourced from Renault as part of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, with Daimler obtaining it through a partnership with the Franco-Japanese entity. It’s not the first time Nissan and Mercedes have shared engines, of course, as the Infiniti Q50 and the W176 A-Class-based Q30 and QX30 have both used powertrains from Stuttgart.
Unlike the Merc, which has a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission as company, the Kicks gets the option of either a six-speed manual or an Xtronic CVT with an eight-speed virtual ratio mode. The 106 PS/142 Nm HR15DE 1.5 litre naturally-aspirated four-pot continues to be offered on the base models (the diesel variant has been discontinued due to tightening emissions standards).
Despite looking almost identical, the Indian version shares very little with the global Kicks model, which is based on Nissan’s V platform. The car you see here instead rides on the budget B0 platform, which also underpins the Dacia Duster and the Indian/Russian-market Renault Captur/Kaptur (our first-gen Captur gets the more expensive B platform).
This means the Indian Kicks also misses out on the Thai market’s facelift, which gave the car a completely redesigned front fascia with a far larger V-motion grille. You can tell the car apart from the global model through the Captur-style stalk-mounted wing mirrors, slimmer headlights (available with LED projectors) and the unique dashboard design that places the infotainment system high up between the centre air vents.
Aside from the new engine, the 2020 model year also adds features like automatic headlights and wipers, fog lights with a cornering function, push-button start, automatic engine stop/start and a new infotainment system with an eight-inch touchscreen and voice control. The car continues to come with the NissanConnect suite of connectivity features, including vehicle status and maintenance tracking and smartwatch compatibility.
Pricing for the 2020 Kicks starts from 949,990 rupees (RM54,700) for the base 1.5 XV manual and goes all the way up to 1,414,990 rupees (RM81,400) for the top 1.3 Turbo XV Premium CVT.
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(Like) Nissan Kicks and Proton X50
(Dislike) Honda HRV
Put this 1.3 tebu engine into 2020 nissan almera, will sell like hotcake and byebye vios n siti.
Nissan kicks and 1.33 litre turbo is X50 killer.
Honda Siti 2020 only has small 1.0Turbo and Tiny Wheels. The cons.
good for recession, no money pay petrol, no money buy Bridgestone RE004 and Michelin PS4. the pros.
I hope the lazy ETCM can wake up and bring this Game Changer here immediately. If Game-Changing Nissan Kicks is sold here, then Proton will have a hard time to sell their Chinese rebadged X50
Your Tan Chong is nearly death. Better start looking for other jobs, like join Proton sales team. Yuk yuk yuk
With Mercedes engine, this is not going to be cheap to maintain and it won’t have the same reliability as a Japanese engine. A recipe for disaster moreso in India.
Expected for Nissan T.C. to return to their game again. As long as, pre-launching Nissan Kicks will be low price with added safety features with better equipments then it is most likely to takeover HR-V as the king of segments
Expected for ETCM to disappoint optimists like you.
Expected for ETCM to continue selling outdated models.
Expected for ETCM to slide further down the ladder.
You forgot another,
Expected for ETCM troll SAs to come and whack/downvote others who pointed out their obvious failures.
Sell both version here.
I like both 1.33Turbo and 1.2L EV Kicks.
RM81k full price at india! Nice. 254Nm
Don’t need China car.
This Kicks will kicked Nissan to record profits!
enough nissan, till now not even 1 so called LATEST models to be launch in malaysia .. better wait for proton X50
Honda gonna get kicked by Nissan Kicks.
Habiz la Honda. Fell down and now hit by a falling ladder. I hope Honda not gonna blame COVID19 for their poor sales over the years.
will just observe these new KICKS and then be forgotten like most of it’s predecessors?
If TCM puts this 1.3T in the new Almera, sapu all B segment already. City and Vios die. Finally TCM will have a game changer.
vios will not say kiss goodbye to their sales as when new facelift vios or new gen vios is coming soon that comes with updated features besides added safety features or even since current vios comes with added safety features and many equipments too with reliable engine then will still sell well such like almera and say bye bye to city