NISSAN'S North-East plant has retained its record as the UK's largest car producer for the 12th year on the trot - despite a slump in sales worldwide.

Figures published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) today show that the Sunderland plant's 338,150 units accounted for one in every three cars produced in the UK last year.

The achievement means Sunderland has been the country’s biggest car plant since 1998.

Sunderland owes its success to the popularity of the Qashqai which, with over 200,000 manufactured, was the plant's most sought-after new model.

Over half a million Qashqais have been manufactured in Sunderland since the car went on sale in 2007.

Nissan is hoping to follow that up with a smaller variant on the Qashqai's cross-over theme - called the Juke - which goes on sale in the autumn.

The plant’s other two models, Micra and Note, also performed strongly in a year impacted by the economic crisis. Production for both cars was boosted to help meet additional demand generated by the pan-European scrappage schemes, including the initiative still running in the UK.

Nissan Senior Vice President for Manufacturing, Europe, Trevor Mann commented: “This is good news for everyone at the plant. Credit for the achievement goes to our Sunderland workforce which continues to work extremely hard to meet demand.

“This performance also reflects the strength of the models we are producing in Sunderland at the moment, especially Qashqai which continues to be an extremely popular car.

“2010 is going to be another tough year for car makers, and the industry is predicting a cooling in demand in general terms. However, Sunderland has worked hard to win the right models for the market and we are benefitting from that.”

Qashqai will receive another boost in the spring when an extensively updated version will be launched.

In addition to improvements in refinement, the refreshed model will feature a new front-end design, LED rear lights and offer customers two new exterior colours as well as an environmentally efficient ‘Pure Drive’ diesel engine producing only 129g/km of CO2.

And in August Sunderland will begin producing the all-new Juke crossover which has been designed and developed to give customers an alternative to the small hatchback in Europe.

DID You know?

* The Nissan Sunderland was established in 1984 * Since then more than £2.44 billion has been invested * It currently employs around 4,000 staff * Total production since 1986 stands at 5.5 million * Approximately 80 per cent of production is exported to 45 markets worldwide