2022 Nissan Kicks e-Power is heading to Malaysia, teased in ETCM ad
Arvind Β· Feb 3, 2022 04:10 PM
0
0
If their Chinese New Year ad is anything to go by, Nissan in Malaysia will be gearing up for a busy year in 2022.
Besides its exhilarating tempo, the Edaran Tan Chong Motor (ETCM) CNY ad fleetingly teases the 2022 Nissan Kicks, leading to the notion that Nissan’s new B-segment SUV should be coming soon.
Although we've known for a while now that the Nissan Kicks was potentially coming to Malaysia, this is the first time Nissan themselves have dropped the hint.
Besides its snazzy SUV design, the 2022 Kicks will also introduce the company’s e-Power Hybrid system in Malaysia.
By definition, the Nissan e-Power drivetrain is a series-hybrid unlike Honda’s i-MMD and Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive systems, which are series-parallel hybrids.
In the case of Nissan’s e-Power, the engine doesn't drive the wheels and is only used as a generator to charge the high voltage battery, as opposed to series-parallel hybrids where the engine can both drive the wheels and charge the high voltage battery.
Under the hood lies a 1.2-litre three-cylinder that feeds power to an electric motor that develops 129 PS and 260 Nm torque. Since it’s an electric vehicle, the Kicks e-Power does not require any ‘gearbox’ to send power to the front wheels.
Thailand is the only country outside of Japan to produce e-Power hybrid Nissan models, thus the Kicks e-Power currently being exported to Indonesia, Singapore, and even Japan all come from our neighbour up north.
Other notable features of the Nissan Kicks full suite of ADAS safety features such as Forward Collision Warning (FCW), Intelligent Emergency Braking System, and Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) – depending on market and variant.
As it stands, the Nissan Kicks is already on sale in Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore.
If we take Thailand as an example, prices of the Nissan Kicks e-Power range between THB 889k (RM 112k) and THB 1.049 million (RM 132k) – although this is not a straightforward comparison as tax structures are different.
In Indonesia, the Nissan Kicks e-Power most affordable hybrid SUV at Rp 449 million (RM 126,000).
Arvind can't remember a time when he didn't wheel around a HotWheels car. This love evolved into an interest in Tamiya and RC cars and finally the real deal 1:1 scale stuff. Passion finally lead to formal training in Mechanical Engineering. Instead of the bigger picture, he obsesses with the final drive ratio and spring rates of cars and spends the weekends wondering why a Perodua Myvi is so fast.