Record Breaking Year For Nissan

4 January 2012, 10:36 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

Sunderland's Nissan car plant saw the number of cars rolling off its production line go up by 4% in 2011.

The Washington Road plant, just off the A19, saw 480,485 vehicles roll off production lines in 2011 - a new record for a single UK car plant.

The growth was largely down to the 300,000 Qashqai models that were made.

It's been so popular that the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) have named it the ninth best-selling car in the UK in the first 11 months of 2011

The number of jobs also reached an all-time high - with just under 5,500 directly employed on site.

Last year saw the production of the plant's six millionth vehicle.

The Sunderland plant has two production lines, one of which makes the Qashqai on three shifts, running 24 hours a day, five days a week. There are also overtime shifts at the weekend.