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Nissan is to recruit 800 staff and start a third production shift at its manufacturing plant in Sunderland in the UK. The company says the move is in response to a record production year and continuing high demand for the Qashqai.

Since its European launch in March 2007, sales of the car have reached 130,000 units and, as a result, last June Nissan boosted production at Sunderland by 20 per cent to help meet demand.

This contributed to the plant achieving a record annual production volume of 353,000 units of Qashqai, Note, Micra and Micra C+C in 2007, exceeding its previous volume record of 332,000 set in 2003.

But Nissan says that orders are still above forecast and it has "a customer order bank" of 60,000 units. By December 2008, it is to recruit 800 additional manufacturing staff, 400 of them into permanent positions, with the remainder temporary contracts.

In addition, all of the Sunderland plant’s current temporary manufacturing staff will be offered permanent positions with the company on a rolling basis throughout the year, subject to performance and sustained volume. These measures will allow Sunderland to implement a third ‘night-time’ shift on the line responsible for Qashqai production.

Trevor Mann, senior vice president for manufacturing and supply chain management, Nissan Europe, said: “Currently on two shifts, we can produce 200,000 Qashqais per year. However, the car is proving so popular we now need to significantly increase our volume.

“Ultimately, how many we produce will be determined by the market, but we have identified the need for a third shift. This is a tremendously positive move by Nissan and represents a great vote of confidence both in the success of Qashqai, and in the Sunderland workforce who achieved a record production year in 2007.

“Today, this level of recruitment in the Western European car manufacturing sector is rare, and reflects the ongoing commitment Nissan has in its UK operation.”

In addition to recruitment directly at the plant, it is estimated that more than 400 new posts will be created throughout Nissan’s local supply base to support the third shift.