UKNissan has announced that the Kicks e-POWER will be built at its Sunderland plant in north-east England, the first time the crossover has been made for Europe. Nissan is investing 170 million pounds (about $233 million) in the plant for the model, which will be sold in the UK, Europe and Turkey. The plant marks its 40th anniversary this year.
What Nissan has confirmed
The Kicks is a compact B-segment crossover with Nissan’s third-generation e-POWER system, launched in 2025. e-POWER is a series hybrid: the petrol engine only generates electricity, and an electric motor drives the wheels. The second-generation Kicks is built in Japan, Mexico and Brazil today, and Nissan says it has sold more than 1.8 million in over 70 countries. The Kicks model page covers the Japan-market car.
Nissan gave no start-of-production date, and no European specifications or prices. Sunderland already builds an e-POWER version of the Qashqai, which Nissan cites as the experience the plant brings to the Kicks.
What the plant builds
The Kicks will be the tenth model allocated to Sunderland since 1986, after the Bluebird, Primera, Micra, Almera, Note, Infiniti Q30, Juke, Qashqai and Leaf. It will be built alongside the Qashqai, Juke and Leaf. From next year the plant will also build the third-generation Juke, which is fully electric for the first time.
The announcement follows May’s report that Nissan is consolidating Sunderland onto a single production line. Nissan also said its new small electric car for Europe, the Pixo, would be unveiled on 23 September.
