NISSAN has said it is creating 150 short-term jobs at its North-East plant in response to a rise in demand, and said it would be targeting the temporary workers it recently made redundant to fill the positions.

The company said as a result of existing scrappage initiatives operating on the continent, as well as the forthcoming UK scheme beginning later this month, its Sunderland plant is expecting additional, short-term customer demand for the Micra, Note and Qashqai models. About 14,000 extra models are expected to be produced.

As a result of the increased work, which is expected to take four months to complete, 150 manufacturing staff will be taken on and given fixed-term contracts for the duration of the contract.

A spokesman for Nissan told The Northern Echo this morning that it would be offering the work to some of the 400 temporary workers made redundant alongside 800 full-time workers in January.

Trevor Mann, Nissan Senior Vice President for Manufacturing, Europe, said: “The impact of the financial crisis is continuing and our 2009 full-year forecasts still reflect a depressed market overall.

“However, this short term spike in demand, fuelled by a number of scrappage schemes introduced across Europe, is clearly a very welcome boost to business during what is a highly challenging period for all car makers.”

For more on this story, see tomorrow's edition of The Northern Echo