After nearly a decade on sale in other parts of the world, the Nissan Kicks is finally heading to Europe. Nissan will build the compact crossover at its Sunderland factory in the UK, backed by a £170 million investment, or roughly $230 million.
It is a significant move for a model that has already found plenty of buyers elsewhere. Nissan has sold around 1.8 million Kicks globally, yet the crossover has never officially been offered in Europe. That will change with the current second generation model, which will be produced in Sunderland for the UK, European, and Turkish markets.
More importantly, Europe won’t simply get another version of the Kicks already sold overseas. Nissan is giving it its latest E-Power hybrid system.
The Kicks Gets Nissan’s Latest E-Power System
E-Power works a little differently from the hybrid systems most drivers are familiar with. The 1.4 liter gasoline engine never drives the wheels directly. Instead, it acts as a generator, while an electric motor is responsible for actually moving the car.
The idea is to give the Kicks the driving characteristics of an electric vehicle without requiring the driver to plug it in.
For this latest generation of the system, Nissan has also brought several major components together into what it calls a 5-in-1 drivetrain. The motor, generator, inverter, reducer, and increaser are all packaged into a single unit.
This isn’t unfamiliar technology for Sunderland. The factory already produces E-Power versions of the Qashqai and Juke, and Nissan has sold more than 1.9 million E-Power vehicles worldwide since introducing the technology in 2016. Around 200,000 of those are Qashqai E-Power models built in the UK.
Adding the Kicks expands that lineup further. It will sit alongside the Juke in the B-segment crossover category, while the larger Qashqai continues to cover the C-segment.
Massimiliano Messina, chairperson of Nissan’s AMIEO Region, said the decision demonstrates how quickly the company can bring existing models into new markets.
Sunderland Gets Another Major Investment
The timing is particularly appropriate for Nissan’s Sunderland plant, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary.
The factory started building cars in 1986 with the Bluebird and has since produced more than 11 million vehicles. Over the years, familiar Nissan names including the Primera, Micra, Almera, Note, Qashqai, Juke, and Leaf have all rolled off its production lines.
Spread across those four decades, Sunderland has averaged roughly one new vehicle every two minutes.
The plant currently employs around 6,000 people directly, and the £170 million investment required to bring Kicks production to the UK gives Sunderland another important model as Nissan continues reshaping its European manufacturing plans.
UK Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds pointed to the announcement as a sign of confidence in British manufacturing, particularly given the plant’s long standing role in supporting skilled jobs and the automotive industry in North East England.
For the factory itself, the Kicks is also a relatively natural addition. Sunderland already has years of experience producing Nissan’s E-Power models, and plant vice president Adam Pennick described the new model as an appropriate way to celebrate the facility’s 40th year.
Nissan Is Changing What Sunderland Builds
The Kicks isn’t the only new Nissan heading to the British factory.
Nissan unveiled the fully electric third generation Juke in April 2026 and has already confirmed Sunderland as its production home. Trial production is expected to begin in the coming weeks.
The company has also changed its plans for the Qashqai. A previously planned fully electric version intended for Sunderland has been dropped, while production of the Qashqai, Juke, Leaf, and now Kicks will instead be consolidated onto a single line.
For European buyers, the immediate result is straightforward. The Kicks is finally coming to a market where Nissan has never officially sold it before, and it will arrive with the company’s newest E-Power technology.
For Sunderland, its arrival adds another name to a production history stretching back 40 years and reinforces the factory’s growing role in building Nissan’s electrified models for Europe.
